Laura Loomer is a far-right political activist who just got herself spun into yet another controversy.

Her activism has sparked controversy, especially this time when she chained herself to the doors of the Twitter HQ.

She did this after Twitter banned her for calling Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota state representive, “anti-jewish” and part of an oppressive religion.

Loomer had handcuffed herself just a week after her ban while wearing a yellow Jude patch. A police officer used bolt cutters to un-handcuff her, and she was not arrested.

This isn’t the first time she got herself in a controversy. In her senior year at Barry University, she taped a conversation between her and college officials. She was given criminal charges and was suspended from the university for violating the student code of conduct. She has dressed in burqas twice for her activism, and even interrupted two book signings. She went to the trial of Noor Salman with press credentials, which were revoked after she started to harass Salman’s family.

Let’s just hope she doesn’t get herself caught up in anything else.

On November 8th, 2018, another mass shooting occurred at a local college bar in California. There was a total of 12 people that were shot and killed that day.

The gunman responsible for this tragedy was a 28-year-old former Marine, Ian David Long, who went by David Long. He was divorced, with no known children, or owned property. According to investigators, he used to hang around the area of the shooting often. He had a few previous run ins with the law where there was a disturbance at his home. Apparently, he was acting irrational according to police.

David Long reportedly ended his shooting spree by killing himself inside the bar.

The shooting took place at Borderline Bar & Grill, a popular bar in Thousand Oaks, California. The bar is a popular place for local college students. Police say they were surprised that this shooting took place in this city, because it is considered to be one of the safest cities in the United States.

David Long’s friends did not describe him as someone who would commit this horrific crime. One of his high school friends said, “The Ian I knew would not do this.” Another one said, “I don’t know what the hell happened.” All four friends that were interviewed clearly showed that they were surprised it was David.

By: Daniela Fernandez

This year, on November 6th, Midterm elections were held. This year,s election was very crucial to both the Republican and Democratic parties as their fate in who would hold the Senate and House of Representatives in D.C. was at stake.

Now with this year’s election over, the democrats have the majority in the House of Representatives. In this election, the democrats gained 27 seats according to Time Magazine, which gave them the majority of 14 seats

The Senate has 100 seats. This year 35 of the 100 seats were up for election. In the Senate, the Republicans kept control of it. They gained 4 seats, but lost 2 which the democrats took according to CNN. Republicans flipped North Dakota, with Cramer winning, Indiana who had Braun win, and Missouri who saw Hawley win. Also, Florida, after recounts, had Scott win. Democrats flipped Nevada with Rosen winning, and Arizona, who had Sinema winning.

Democrats now hold 47 seats in the Senate, and republicans hold 52 seats. Republicans have had control of the Senate since 2015, when they held 54 seats, and democrats held 44 seats according to the United States Senate website.

In the House of Representatives, democrats hold 232 seats out of 435, and republicans hold 200 seats. This year, all 435 of the House of Representatives seats were up for election. Democrats now have a majority of 14 seats because in order to have majority they need 218 seats. They needed to flip 24 seats in order to gain majority. Democrats previously had 195 seats, and republicans had 236, and there were 4 seats that were empty according to the U.S. House of Representatives Press Gallery.

Republicans lost 36 districts, and democrats flipped 37 districts. With this, now they hold the majority, which they haven’t held since before President Obama’s second year in office which they lost to the republicans. They held 257, and republicans held 178 according to the United States House of Representatives Archives.

There was unexpected news during the week of October 29, when it was reported that a couple died while taking a selfie at Yosemite National Park. The couple’s bodies were discovered after other tourists encountered their empty camera equipment and reported the incident to the staff. It was reported that the park rangers had to use high-powered binoculars to find them.

The bodies were found about 800 ft below Taft Point, and the recovery operation required technical climbing, rappelling techniques, and a helicopter from the California Highway Patrol.

This couple had more than 10,000 Instagram followers. They documented their travels, and they had traveled all over Europe, including to Venice, the leaning tower of Pisa, and at the Vatican.

Yosemite Park spokespearn, Scott Gerdiman had stated that more 10 people have died at Yosemite Park this year.

The couple’s names, Meenakashi Moorthy and Vishnu Viswanath, were revealed a few days after their bodies were retrieved. Moorthy was considered to be a “quirky free spirit” and an “ardent adrenaline junkie” and she had described her husband Vishnu as being “travel obsessed.”

The couple were both born in Indian and had lived in United States for a few years. They attended the College of Engineering, in the Alappuzha district of India’s Kerala state, and graduated together in 2010. One of their professors, Nisha Kuruvilla, had said that both Moorthy and Viswanath were both very good students and had gotten married at a Hindu temple in Kerala in southern India about 4 years ago.

While it is unclear how the couple fell to their death, their social media posts support the conclusion that the couple was taking a selfie which caused the fall.

The couple were known to take dangerous and risky photos. For example, in one photo, Moorthy posed at the edge of the Grand Canyon in a Wonder Woman costume. They did this even though Moorthy had talked multiple times about how fatal and dangerous a selfie can be, and advise her followers to not take those risks.

In one of Moorthy posts, she wrote “A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliff–skyscrapers. But did you know that wind gust can be FATAL? Is our life worth one photo?”

On the day to their death, a few hours earlier, another couple hiked to Taft Point too and were able to snap a photo of Moorthy. It was the last photo of her before she died. Sean Mattheson, the man who took the photo of him and his wife said, “She[Moorthy] was very close to the edge, but it looked like she was enjoying herself. She gave me the willies. There aren’t any railings. I was not going to get that close to the edge. But she seemed comfortable. She didn’t seem like she was in distress or anything.”

A study, published in October, in The Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, said 259 people died taking selfies between October 2011 to November 2017. It was reported that a few of the main causes of selfie deaths included: people drowning, being washed away by waves, falling from a boat, posing in front of a train, falling from high places, or taking pictures with dangerous animals.