Like many people, I grew up watching numerous television shows and mainstream movies depicting a world in which the common police officer stood as a sentinel of civilized society against a seething underbelly of violence and chaos just beneath the surface of the world around us. Through public schooling, we were indoctrinated to fear the drug culture as a breeding ground of gangland destruction and to worship law enforcement officials as the only barrier between us and a cocaine-frosted wasteland. We were led to believe that every day police were holding back a tide of crime and terrorism. The so-called "thin blue line" was an indispensable part of a safe and prosperous nation.

To criticize or present opposition to the institution of state and federally funded law enforcement is often considered tantamount to treason - or, at the very least, it is considered unpatriotic. After all, we have all been told every moment of our lives that a world without police would immediately turn into a frothing, frenzied orgy of mass insanity and that average human beings cannot be trusted to take responsibility for the day-to-day security of their neighborhoods and towns. Official doctrine today demands a designated warrior class, separate from the rest of us, to handle the protection and care of weakling citizens.

With her right hand, my 8-year-old daughter, Kalian, presses the red-hot soldering iron against the circuit board. With her left hand, she guides a thin, tin wire until it's pressing against both the circuit board and the tip of the iron.

The tin begins to melt. There is a wisp of smoke, and a metallic smell drifts back to where I am standing behind her, a bit nervously, sweat running down my forehead onto my safety goggles (which I have always detested). I am ready to pounce if that soldering iron slips and touches her skin.

Instead, she pulls the iron and wire away. The solder cools, holding in place a metal pin from a computer chip. It's one of 20 solders she must make to attach the chip to the circuit board, and the moment seems to last forever.

Attaching the chip is just one of the tiny steps she and her brother, Liam, 10, will take over the next 10 months to create their own miniature computer, called a Hackerling Circuit.

We were building these computers as part of a program called Curiosity Hacked, started by some friends here. The goal is to teach kids a wide range of digital and analog skills: computer programming, 3-D printing, and sewing and drawing.

As the biggest storm in five years took aim at California this week cities across the state distributed sandbags, cancelled school and warned residents to prepare for power outages. And though the storm didn't really live up to the media hype, some people did take the warnings to heart and made last minute trips to the grocery store to stock up on foodstuffs and other supplies just so they wouldn't have to go out in the rain.

But not everyone was prepared. One San Francisco resident in particular highlights just how susceptible America is to disasters and what to expect in the event of a widespread emergency.

"I thought we were going to watch tv all day, but now the power's out," Beth Ludwig said. Her mom added that the kids had never experienced a power outage before.

Georgia Virgili was one of the hundreds of thousands in the Bay Area who lost most of the conveniences of modern life.

"I didn't have power," Virgili said. "I couldn't get my car out of the garage, I have no food, I have no cash, so I'm trying to forage for something." (CBS)

Russia has donated a 25m tree Christmas tree to the Notre Dame cathedral in France, following an appeal for help.

The cathedral had struggled to raise the money for its annual tree and appealed to foreign embassies in Paris for assistance.

"It was a surprise but it won't create problems. It was a gift. No money changed hands. And if it helps to build bridges, so much the better.", said one of the Parisian clergy.

The surprise donation comes at a time of strained relations between the two countries, over Russia's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

The whole country, and the world, stood up to police brutality and institutionalized racism today.

This short time lapse video puts the protests into perspective. While the mainstream media may report hundreds or maybe a thousand, you need to know the truth. You are not alone, many many other young people around the country have also awaken to the injustices we face.

Here's the proof:

There is a pattern emerging in my Facebook feed this week. One group of friends has been posting stories of police brutality and protests accompanied by personal statements of outrage. Another group has been remarking on the disgusting revelations from the Senate Intelligence Committee's CIA torture report and the need for accountability. There is little overlap between the two groups, and yet the common threads between the U.S.' foreign and domestic policies are disturbingly uncanny.

Whether on the streets of Baghdad or Ferguson, soldiers and militarized police forces have historically enforced control, not law. Behind the prison walls of Guantanamo and Texas, some authorities have tortured and brutalized rather than interrogated. They have not protected nor served; they have attacked and killed. They have not gathered intelligence; they have violated people's humanity.

I am an immigrant to the United States. The names of those killed and tortured in Iraq and Afghanistan invoke in my imagination people who look like me, people I could have known, who could be my family. In the faces of those killed and tortured in Ferguson and Los Angeles, I see my neighbors and friends, people I know and love and think of as family. These are not separate and distinct. The pain I feel while reading the CIA report is as strong as the grief that comes from perusing the images of unarmed people of color who have been killed by U.S. police. The U.S. tortures and imprisons people of color both at home and abroad.

Protesters are taking to the streets in cities across the US to protest grand juries' decisions not to indict the white officers responsible for the deaths of two unarmed black men, and demand police accountability.

Congressional staffers plan to walk off their jobs Thursday afternoon to show their support for the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in the wake of the decision by two grand juries not to indict the police officers responsible for their deaths, according to three staffers who plan to participate in the event.

The planned walkout comes after days of protests across the country, including in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators have marched through downtown, blocking roads and bridges on an almost nightly basis since last Wednesday's decision by a grand jury in Staten Island not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Garner.

"We're proud to have this moment of solidarity with the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the thousands of peaceful protesters around the country who are telling this country that black lives matter," said one staffer who was helping to plan the event.

On November 19, Rolling Stone published its story "A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA" by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, an investigative journalist and two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for investigative reporting.

The article was disturbing, detailing the brutal gang rape of "Jackie" - reportedly her real nickname - at a fraternity house during the beginning months of her freshman year at the college, as part of an initiation ritual for the frat's pledges. Most chilling, perhaps, was one dehumanizing detail she described, where one of the young men attacking her told the others, "Grab its [expletive] leg!" as she struggled in vain.

Last week multiple news sources began calling Jackie's story - and the Rolling Stone piece - into question.

A video of an altercation between a female police officer and a 15-year-old girl has gone viral, along with seemingly contradictory accounts of what happened. The video has prompted witnesses to accuse the officer of punching the girl to subdue her.

The incident occurred in Mesa, Arizona on Friday, and was uploaded that evening to Facebook by Luis Paul Puleo Santiago. From there it made its way to Youtube, and as of Saturday evening the video reportedly had over half a million views online. The attention comes amidst protests that erupted in cities across the country over the failure to indict officers in the deaths of either Eric Garner or Michael Brown, both of whom were unarmed when police shot them.

Santiago and another woman caught the incident on camera from a car across from the street corner where it occurred. The figures are in the distance, but the video clearly captures a struggle between the female officer and the girl, ending with the officer pinning the girl to the ground. At that point, the girl repeatedly screams "stop" and "I can't breathe." On the soundtrack, Santiago and the woman can be heard gasping and saying "she just punched her in the face."

Police told ABC News 15 in Arizona that the girl had run away in the past, and that her mother had called the police asking for help after the girl got out of the mother's car and walked away. Esteban Flores with the Mesa Police Department told the news outlet that "authorities tried three times to convince the girl to stop before a female officer reached for the girl's arm." According to the police, the girl then kicked the officer and "punched her in the face." After that, the female officer - a 12-year veteran on the force, according to Esteban - made the arrest, "which involved physical force by the officer."

On the video, another male witness and the girl's mother approach the struggle after the officer gets the girl to ground, and the mother proceeds to have an angry but indistinct exchange with the officer. When Santiago and the woman pull over and exit the car, the screen goes dark, but Santiago can be heard saying, "She punched her in the face, I have it on video." Another female voice, presumably the girl's mother, says "Please be a witness."