TODAY'S TALKING POINTS 11-17-015

TODAY'S TALKING POINTS

Russia's security chief said an act of terror brought down Metrojet flight 9268. Officials confirmed that a bomb had been placed on the jet that crashed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31, causing the plane to shatter in midair, killing all 224 people on board. Authorities arrested two airport workers suspected of helping the attackers, and Russia's offering a $50 million reward for information leading to anyone else involved. ISIS has said they brought the plane down.

In the wake of the Paris attacks, at least half of U.S. governors said they’ll deny Syrian refugees entry. It took one passport belonging to a Syrian refugee to spur panic. It was found near the dead body of a Paris attacker who entered Europe last month, and it has some politicians wondering if the plan to welcome 10,000 refugees to the U.S. in the next year is a good one — but they probably can’t stop them from coming. President Barack Obama slammed the GOP candidates who said Syrian refugees shouldn’t be permitted. Wondering if your state wants to keep asylum seekers out? Here’s a map.

The president defended the U.S.’ strategy against the extremist group and argued for the intensification of current efforts — but without sending in a ton of American ground troops. Hours earlier, ISIS released an unverified video in which its members threatened to carry out a Paris-esque attack on the U.S. Controversial hacking collective Anonymous countered with a video of their own andboldly declared war on ISIS. Meanwhile in France, President François Hollande told both houses of parliament during a rare meeting that “France is at war,” and called for the state of emergency to be extended three months. Despite the state of emergency, which generally means people shouldn’t gather in large groups, thousands of Parisians epitomized the country’s national motto and lined up in fraternité to donate blood.

The number of people killed by police in the U.S. this year has officially reached 1,000. A man who was fatally shot in Oakland, California, on Sunday was the 1,000th person added to the Guardian’s investigative database “The Counted,” which logs every fatality at the hands of law enforcement in 2015.

The people who have been killed by law enforcement are disproportionately black, and the U.S. Justice Department just released a study that revealed that black people are also “more than twice as likely to have non-fatal force or the threat of it used against them” during encounters with cops.

A former Mississippi firefighter received the most extensive face transplant in history. Fourteen years ago, a raging fire left Patrick Hardison severely disfigured. Even after undergoing 71 surgeries to sculpt some semblance of a face, he said “kids ran screaming and crying when they saw me.” But last August, he had a life-changing 26-hour surgery that gave him a new face — and his medical team just declared it a major success.