Kenzie Watson

9/8/15
Kansas State Marching Band Sorry for NSFW Halftime Show
Mike Vulpo
NBC
College Game Day returned Saturday to the delight of football fans
around the country, but the one story to come out of the weekend
didn't involve a player or a team. It's all about one unforgettable
marching band. During Kansas State football's halftime show, the
school's band tried to nail the "Space" theme that involved scenes
from Star Trek and Star Wars. The band members attempted to form
the Kansas mascot a Jayhawk and what was supposed to be the
Starship Enterprise crashing into it. For better or worse, however, the
spaceship ended up resembling male genitalia. Kansas State
apologizes for 'offensive' halftime show http://t.co/hT4gm7uVoh Luke
Kerr-Dineen (@LukeKerrDineen) September 6, 2015 The school's
president apologized on social media. "I am sorry if anyone was
offended by the performance at half-time," Kirk H. Schulz shared
online. The marching band's director offered explanation for the
questionable formation on Facebook hours after the game concluded.
"The chart below represents the drill from tonight's show. There was
absolutely no intent to display anything other than the Enterprise and
the Jayhawk in battle," Frank Tracz wrote on Facebook. "If I am guilty of
anything, it would be the inability to teach the drill in a manner that
these young people could have succeeded." If there's a bright side to
this story, Kansas State would end up beating South Dakota 34 to zero.

Kenzie Watson
9/8/15
We're missing the point about Syrian refugees
Hamish de-Bretton Gordon
Alhjeezra
Europe and the Middle East are looking at a million refugees needing
help today. This figure could easily escalate to five million by the end of
the year, unless there is a significant policy shift by the international
community towards Syria. But are we missing the point about opening
our doors to Syrian refugees? Surely we must set the conditions to
allow them to return as soon as possible to their homes in Syria?
Listening to news media today demanding that the UK government and
others open their doors to thousands of Syrian refugees strikes me as
the completely wrong approach - and illustrates that we really haven't
learned lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan. I've been to Syria a bit in
the last four years and to Iraq and Afghanistan a lot over the last 25
years. I know many Syrians; every single one wants to return to Syria.
Photos of drowned Syrian boy spark outcry The refugee problem in
Europe is of our own making. It is a direct result of our inactivity
towards Syria hitherto, and particular, us ignoring the perceived and
stated red lines on the use of chemical weapons after the Ghouta
chemical attack in August 2013, which killed up to 1,500 people. Back
to Syria We must create "safe zones" and a no-fly zone now in order to
get Syrians back into Syria. This will be better for the Syrian people; it
will be cost effective and morally far better for Syria than allowing
potentially five million Syrian refugees into Europe and the Middle East.
The UK, with its allies in the international military coalition, must step
up the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and
press to remove Bashar al-Assad from Syria in order to create a
liveable environment for civilians in Syria. Also read: Europe's policy
did not kill Aylan Kurdi ISIL is now using deadly chemical weapons, like
mustard gas. This must be the last straw - now with every red line of
whatever diameter now crossed. Some advocate prevarication to allow
the Chilcot Enquiry on Iraq to be published. Presumably, this is to
ensure that we do not make the same mistake as the 2003 invasion of
Iraq. But from personal experience, I can say unequivocally that Iraq
2003 and Syria 2015 are completely different situations. For one, we
didnt have millions of refugees in 2003, though there were other
terrible issues that we did have in Iraq. The UK, with its allies in the
international military coalition, must step up the fight against ISIL and
press to remove Bashar al-Assad from Syria in order to create a
liveable environment for civilians back in Syria. There is not a second
to be lost, and the UK could have made this decision to attack ISIL in
Syria back in July when Michael Fallon, the UK defence minister, first
suggested it. If this is the existential threat and the battle of our

generation, as Prime Minister David Cameron put it, we do not appear

to be doing much about it. It seems pretty clear now after three attacks
in Iraq and three in Syria in the past ten days that ISIL has significant
quantities of the deadly "Class 1" chemical agent, mustard gas. Attacks
against Peshmerga forces near Erbil have been confirmed as mustard
agent, and the attack on Marea, the strategic town between Aleppo
and the Turkish border, is also almost certainly mustard gas.
Psychological warfare This represents a major escalation in the ISIL
terror campaign and psychological warfare on those who oppose them.
Mustard agent is a prescribed chemical under the Chemical Weapons
Convention (CWC) and is a blister agent - persistent and highly toxic.
The last two properties are the most worrying, especially in Syria
where doctors and civilians have virtually no equipment and little
knowledge on how to deal with the effects of a mustard attack. This
has been personified by the actions after the Marea attack. Until
recently, Assad had been dropping chlorine barrel bombs on Aleppo.
Chlorine is not very toxic and very non-persistent, dispersing in
minutes. Initial reports from Marea were that this was a chlorine attack,
but it wasn't. Hence, the first responders and doctors went into highly
contaminated areas to treat casualties and became victims
themselves. The mustard in Marea could remain toxic for weeks in
some places. A Syrian kid receives treatment at a field hospital
following a suspected chlorine gas attack [GETTY] Now that ISIL
undoubtedly has mustard agent, the main concern is how much have
they got, and a lesser issue of where it came from. To take the latter
first, there are three possibilities: They made it themselves - possible,
as there are probably all the constituent chemicals available in Syria
and Iraq to do this. This would be a game change if proven. Or, it came
from the Muthanna stockpile, where Saddam Hussein's chemical
weapons are stored and which ISIL controlled from July to November
2014; unlikely, but possible. Or most likely, it came from Assad's
stockpile. Many, including myself, believe there was up to 200 tonnes
of mustard agent missing from Assad's chemical declaration to the UN
in 2013. The CIA recently stated that Assad still had some mustard
agent and the deadly VX nerve agent, and there is also enough reports
to suggest that some had fallen into the hands of ISIL last December.
ISIL steps up campaign Therefore, if you accept the last thesis, ISIL
could still have considerable amounts of mustard agent and the
capability to make more. This signifies a considerable step up in ISIL's
terror campaign, and one wonders where they might go to next. Of
course, any hint that this deadly chemical weapon arsenal is moved
out of the Iraqi and Syrian theatre of war could have a very significant
psychological impact regionally and globally. But as we are helping
doctors and first responders on the ground mitigate this threat in Syria,
the same should apply outside of the warzone. In sum, we must create
a no-fly zone to prevent the hemorrhaging of civilians out of Syria,

closely followed by "safe zones" to allow aid in. In conjunction with this,
the international military coalition must step up its air and land
campaign and hit - very hard - any ISIL units likely to possess or use
chemical weapons. This is a red line we absolutely cannot afford to
ignore, and we must begin to set the conditions for Syrian refugees to
return to Syria, or it will not be one million looking for homes in the UK,
Europe and the Middle East, but more like five million, and as early as
the end of this year.