The second amendment to the U.S. Constitution has to do with the right to bear arms. Whether there should be restrictions or not is a current point of contention between Republicans and Democrats.

There has been a lot of attention on the second amendment and on gun safety. This is because there have been so many mass shootings in the United States, and in fact, two very big ones happened just a week apart. As Sigrid states, this is a very upsetting topic.

Following the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, people spoke out. One of these people was a famous actor who went to Washington to give a speech.

Pressure from celebrities in combination with organized peaceful protests and marches can sometimes work to effectuate change. It's always worth a try when the cause is just.

One thing President Biden hopes to accomplish during his term in office is to pardon federal, non-violent offenders who have been convicted of possessing marijuana. Since the time many of these offenders were convicted and served their sentences, laws have changed, decriminalizing possession of marijuana in many states. This pardon hopes to right a wrong, although most offenders were convicted on a state level, where the President has no pardon power.

The first part of this newscast provides some background information about wild horses in the United States. The population keeps growing, but is that a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on your point of view.

This story made the news because it is rather unusual and horse lovers will especially appreciate how important the story was for the protagonists. At the same time, the background story illustrates a problem in the western states of the US that has no easy solution.

The Mississippi River is one of the most important rivers in the world, but because of climate change, it is drying up at the moment, and that means trouble.

What happens when an important river like the Mississippi starts drying up because of lack of rain? We find out in this segment.

This is a special report about 2022's word of the year, which is "gaslighting." As with many new words, or old words with new usage, this word of the year has an interesting story. Sigrid fills us in.

When the U.S. Congress convened in January 2023, the gavel that had been held by the Democrats had to be handed over to the Republicans. This task fell to Hakeem Jeffries, who first gave a speech and had some fun with it, which is why we'd like to share it with you. But first a little background information.

Sigrid focuses on three topics that Hakeem Jeffries discussed in his speech, and how he had fun with words while getting his point across. She explains some of the terms you might not be familiar with and presents the first segment of the speech.

In the last part of Jeffries' speech, he goes through the letters of the alphabet with pairs of words (with rather opposing qualities) in order to describe some principles of the Democratic Party. The speech is affectionately known as the ABCs of Democracy.

Both the Mississippi River and the Colorado River have a huge impact on the lives of millions of Americans. While there have been severe droughts leading to a lack of drinking water, there have also been floods because of quickly melting snow.

It's been a stormy and fiery year in the United States, both weather-wise and in the government.