"Trump: Bringing Peace to the Middle East" by Aaron B.

 

The Israel-Palestinian Conflict has been going on since Palestine was split up by the U.N. Partition of Palestine (1947) with Jews getting 55% of the land and Arabs getting 45%. The conflict had many complex issues that kept peace coming together.  

On September 11, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani along with United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed made an agreement for naturalization of their countries relations. Bahrain is “the second Arab country to make peace with Israel in 30 days,” Trump tweeted, and it is the fourth country in the Middle East to recognise Israel as a country since its founding in 1948. Over several decades, most Arab countries refused to establish ties; however, last month the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreed to establish a relationship with Israel. 

President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, laid out the U.S.’s plan back in January and have been pushing for the conflict to be resolved. Under the Constitution in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, the president of the United States has the power to establish foreign policies. The two Arab countries, UAE and Bahrain, signed at the White House last Tuesday, and President Trump has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. This is a breakthrough from decades of fighting, and President Trump has accomplished what no other president before him has done.

Do you think Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize? Why has the American media been so mediocre about something so huge? I had to go to other countries' news sites to find out about this. More importantly, will the rest of the Arab countries and Palestin finally make peace and accept Israel?

SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54124996

"Are Politicians doing enough to battle climate change charged wildfires?" by Brooke. H

 

Currently there is the crisis of wildfires sweeping across the West coast of our nation. Many believe that these are being primarily caused by climate change. If so, are our politicians doing enough to prevent these dangerous wildfires? 

The scale of burning and death of these wildfires are at a magnitude not previously seen before. The US National Interagency Fire Center states there are at least 87 wildfires in 11 different states. Over 16,600 firefighters from across the world have been deployed to fight the wildfires in California alone. At least 25 people have died in California and 33 in Oregon since August with dozens more missing. In Oregon alone, more than 40,000 people have had to leave their homes. Parts of the West coast technically have the worst air quality in the world, with smog able to be seen all the way in Europe.  No matter what opinion or party, these wildfires are devastating and we need to find a solution soon. 

Climate change has triggered excessive heat and drought conditions across the world that exacerbate the wildfires. In California, six of the twenty biggest wildfires in state history have occurred this year alone.  The fires from just August to now have been said to have a, “significantly more intense than the 2003-2019 average for the whole country and the affected states,” from the Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). The fires alone have emitted over 30 megatons of carbon. West coast officials are saying that this has been eye opening for them, and they will try harder to battle climate change. 

Politicians across the country have openly spoken about what caused the wildfires and can be done to prevent them. President Trump issued a major disaster declaration in August and is set to visit Los Angeles on Sept. 21st as of writing this. He has put the blame of the wildfires on how the states have been handling the fires. Trump has previously stated that he doubted the reality of human made climate change and has withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate Accords.  Also, he has dismantled climate change and environmental policies nationally. 

L.A.’s mayor has criticised the white house claiming they haven’t done enough. “I listen to fire professionals, not the president of the United States,” and, “...talk to a firefighter if you think climate change isn’t real.” Oregon governor Inslee recalled the fires as, “apocalyptic,” and has also stated, “The only moisture in eastern Washington was the tears of people who have lost their homes.” Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden stated, “The science is clear, and deadly signs like these are unmistakable-climate change poses an imminent, existential threat to our way of life.” He emphasized that, “President Trump can try to deny that reality, but the facts are undeniable.” 

Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/16/weather/us-wildfires-smoke-europe-copernicus-intl/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/12/fires-in-oregon-california-and-washington-spread-death-toll-rises.html#:~:text=Historic%20wildfires%20are%20burning%20millions,people%20have%20fled%20their%20homes

“Mail-in Ballots” by Kirstyn M.

 

Mail-in voting is not new to the United States. However, it has been much more prevalent in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. As of lately, it has been very controversial whether it is wise to vote through mail-in voting or if it is better to vote in person. Mail-in voting varies across states. Some states will send absentee ballots to voters’ homes, others allow voters to request absentee ballots, while the rest of the states require an excuse to vote by mail. Though, in light of COVID-19, some states are permitting all voters an excuse to vote by mail. 

President Donald Trump made an argument stating that mail-in voting would lead to fraud, but absentee voting on the other hand was safe and more reliable. This has been repeatedly refuted, and managed to greatly confuse experts. While the terms absentee ballot and mail-in ballot do not have the same textbook definitions, they are essentially the same thing. Absentee voting generally refers to someone who is ‘absent’ or unable to make an appearance in person. Voting absentee has been around since the Civil War era, and usually includes the voter having to make a request to get a ballot. Mail-in voting, on the other hand, is a term used more broadly in terms of the enablement of voters to vote by mail. 

Trump’s statement sparked many claims over the issue, with one of them being that absentee ballots require voters to verify themselves while mail-in ballots do not. This claim, however, is false. All votes by mail must be verified and include personal information to be included. The untrue claim made by Trump raised anxieties of the Republican party, who became divided as to whether or not they should vote in person. President Trump told his supporters to vote absentee. Trump evidently called mail-in voting “the greatest scam in the history of politics.” This raises a question; why is Trump so against mail-in voting, when it is so similar to absentee voting?

Rising concern for absentee votes has resulted from a large amount of ballot rejections in Florida. Apparently, over 35,500 ballots didn’t count in the primary. Expert Dan Smith stated that 100,000 mail-in ballots might not ‘make the grade’ by November. This amount of uncounted ballots could make a large difference in President Trump’s reelection chances. According to an analysis done by Florida’s election supervisors, 50% of absentee ballots were cast by Democrats and accounted for 47% of votes that didn’t count. 34% of the ballots were cast by Republicans, however, and made up 31% of votes that didn’t count. 

While Democrats and Biden largely advocated for mail-in voting, Democrats recently altered their message to encourage voting in person if possible. This shows that the Democratic party appears to be concerned about absentee ballots, and even Michelle Obama added to her DNC speech she wanted everyone to “vote early, in person if we can.” The conspiracies and statistics that have been circulating make us wonder: How reliable is mail-in voting really? Also, will the amount of uncounted ballots make a large difference in the outcome of the election or will it not have much of an affect in the long run?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/04/fact-check-absentee-mail-in-ballots-handled-same/5610886002/

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/politics/mail-in-voting/

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/09/17/more-than-35-000-mail-in-ballots-were-rejected-in-florida-primary-1317327

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/31/907091223/some-in-gop-fear-trumps-push-against-mail-in-voting-could-harm-the-party-s-chanc

"The Banning of TikTok" by Aaron B.

 

Courtesy of fortune.com

On August 6, 2020, President Donald Trump issued two executive orders to ban TikTok and WeChat, two big Chinese apps, from the United States for national data security concerns. Trump gave an ultimatum to ByteDance, the company who is behind TikTok, that they can either be bought by an american company, or ban comes into effect 45 days after the orders.

The first question on the table is if the President can effectively ban TikTok. According to brookings.edu, “the short answer is yes.” Trump’s administration has two major routes that it can “use to address national security concerns.” The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is a committee that reviews and blocks foreign entities of U.S. business. When ByteDance bought rights to musical.ly and rebranded the platform, the CFIUS had been reviewing the company since the latter months of last year. The Administration did not go with a CFIUS declaration, although the American company wanting to buy must have been approved through this, but rather the second avenue: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This act allows for “presidents to respond to emergency national security concerns,” (Gertz). There is an added benefit to using the IEEPA as this act also can block any transactions with American consumers in the future.

Although many companies have been in line to buy ByteDance, Oracle has made the agreement to partner with TikTok just yesterday. The question now becomes, is it too late to decide TikTok’s fate? The time crunch of having to wrap all the change in ownership up in less than a week with the deadline being on September 20 will certainly be a close call.

Courtesy of CNN Business

The problem here is that for many, many influencers use this media platform as a source of income and people tend to get mad when their income starts to drop. Thousands in the U.S. use the app for entertainment that is tailored toward the user through the type of content they watch. The military has already made soldiers delete TikTok starting with the Navy back last December. Other than keeping each soldiers’ privacy information safe, I can see not having it gone as a security reason for geography and important rooms being leaked.

What do you think of the situation? Did President Trump want to ban TikTok only for the reason of security or more personal reasons such as TikTokers sabotaging Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma back in July? Do you think Oracle will be able to successfully grab the rights to TikTok despite the clock ticking? 

Sources:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/08/07/why-is-the-trump-administration-banning-tiktok-and-wechat/

https://fortune.com/2020/09/08/trump-tiktok-ban-china-internet/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/14/tech/tiktok-deadlines/index.html

"Why and When Should Harriett Tubman Be on the $20 bill?" by Brooke H.

Sources: 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/opinions/why-isnt-harriet-tubman-on-20-bill-yet-coates/index.html

https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/andrew-jackson

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/andrew-jackson/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/12/politics/harriet-tubman-20-mnuchin-trnd/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/22/harriet-tubman-20-bill-no-longer-coming-in-2020.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-andrew-jackson-as-his-hero--and-a-reflection-of-himself/2017/03/15/4da8dc8c-0995-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html

https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears

2020 marks the year Harriet Tubman was supposed to be placed alongside or replace former president Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. This plan was originally proposed by the Obama administration to mark 100 years since women got the right to vote in 1920. Despite this, the white house has moved the date to 2026. Is this move from the Trump administration purposeful, or really just for extra security like they claim? 

Harriet Tubman and Andrew Jackson are two completely different historical leaders that both stand for completely different things. Harriet Tubman is known for being one of the conductors of the underground railroad that freed slaves. She also was a nurse and head of the espionage spy network for the union during the civil war. She stands today as a symbol of hope for all African Americans and women. Andrew Jackson has a very different story, being a slave owner himself. An advocate for keeping slavery, he stated, “atone for this wicked attempt with their lives.’’ He is widely known for the Indian Removal Act that caused the removal of natives from their home. This began the trail of tears that he made 60,000 native americans walk through, many dying along the way. Who should we praise on our currency; someone who fought for freedom and America, or a racist former president? 

Would the Trump administration push this deadline back on purpose, or is it out of their hands? Trump is very fond of president Andrew Jackson; visiting his home, grave, and having his portrait in the oval office. When visiting the former president’s home Trump stated: “Inspirational visit, I have to tell you, I’m a fan.” When asked why the timeline was pushed back the Trump administration stated that this is only a matter of security. The white house stated, “The primary reason for currency redesign is security against counterfeiting, not aesthetics.” Right now racial relations and riots are at an all-time high, so the real question is who should we praise from history? Is this a move from the president in support of Andrew Jackson, or merely just better security and currency for our country?

"Hurricane Laura: Her Destructive Wrath" by Jameson H.

 Hurricane Laura is the first big hurricane to hit the southern region of the United States. According to CNN, Laura first made her landfall appearance on August 27, 2020. Within 24 hours before reaching the shores in Texas and Louisiana, the sustainment of winds were over 150 mph, with even higher gusts of wind as it approached the shore. 

The storm surge from the National Hurricane Center, there was an estimated 12 to 21 feet of height in advance to the storm. The Washington Post states on the cover of the 8/28/20 paper, “Louisiana suffered ‘tremendous devastation’ at height of Hurricane Laura’s power” leaving a total of over $25 million in damage. Combined with Texas and Louisiana, the estimated damages are about $12 billion. 

As of August 31st, the death toll in the United States was up to 16 people. The Washington Post reports that there were more than 910,000 people that were left without power or electricity after the hurricane hit the mainland. 

President Trump and others from Washington D.C. visited parts Louisiana that were deeply affected by the storm's power this previous Saturday. The president said while he was there “I am here to support the great people of Louisiana, it’s been a tremendous state for me. I love the people”. He helped send the Army National Guard to Louisiana to evacuate the citizens of the state before the impact. As of 8/28, the LANG helped evacuate over 2,000 people and 20 animals before Hurricane Laura’s impact. While he was there, he made a comforting speech to the people of Louisiana about how they bounced back after the damage of Hurricane Katrina nearly 15 years to the day. He has made no further explicit details about what he and the others are doing to insure the people of Louisiana of their safety and well-being during this time. It makes you wonder, what are some of the things that he is going to do to help these people that are in desperate need of help. Is he acting fast, or is he waiting until after the election to he;lp them out.

In the state of Arkansas, by information by the National Weather Service, there were 8 confirmed tornadoes that touched the Arkansas grounds, that were caused by the wrath of Hurricane Laura and her destructive storms.

Info about Hurricane Laura

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/28/hurricane-laura-peak-winds-surge/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hurricane-laura-louisiana-devastation/2020/08/28/72b02722-e959-11ea-97e0-94d2e46e759b_story.html

https://6abc.com/hurricane-laura-damage-aftermath-lake-charles-tropical-storm/6395107/

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/hurricane-laura-updates/index.html 

https://katv.com/news/local/national-weather-service-confirms-8-tornadoes-from-tropical-storm-laura-arkansas

https://www.npr.org/sections/hurricane-laura-live-updates/2020/08/29/907445890/president-trump-visits-areas-hardest-hit-by-hurricane-laura

https://www.brproud.com/news/louisiana-national-guard-evacuates-2000-hurricane-laura-victims/

https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2020/08/29/hurricane-laura-trump-visits-lake-charles-louisiana-and-orange-texas-after-destructive-storm/5667786002/

Pictures

https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/louisiana-power-outages-hurricane-laura-oil-output-production-storm-aftermath

https://www.insider.com/tropical-storms-marco-laura-path-track-forecast-2020-8

“Kyle Rittenhouse” By Tanner R.

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-is-kyle-rittenhouse-and-what-happened-in-the-kenosha-shootings-11598653456

The article states that a 17 year old named Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with six criminal counts, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, recklessly endangering safety and possession of a dangerous weapon in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A judge will decide at a hearing on Sept. 25 whether Mr. Rittenhouse will be extradited to Wisconsin, where he would be tried as an adult. 

This photo shows Kyle Rittinhouse moments
before the shooting occured

The article states what is believed to have happened during the shooting. It states that Rittenhouse was protecting a business when a confrontation escalated, and ended in Rittenhouse killing two people and injuring one more. After the shooting the teenager reportedly raised his arms and started walking toward a police car. Police didn’t appear to stop him, although people in the background could be heard shouting that he just shot someone. He was later arrested in his hometown of Antioch, Wisconsin.

“People are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business, and part of my job is to also help people,” Mr. Rittenhouse stated in a video before the shooting. “If there’s somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my rifle, because I need to protect myself, but I also have my med kit.”

Rittenhouse was in Kenosha to clean

up after previous protests and to help

protect businesses 

The Kyle Rittenhouse case brings a new topic for the presidential candidates to weigh in on. Seeing their opinions on it could help a lot of Americans further educate themselves on the candidates and who they would want to vote for. President Trump has already voiced his support for Kyle Rittenhouse stating, “You saw the same tape as I saw. And he was trying to get away from them. I guess it looks like he fell and then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we’re looking at right now, and it’s under investigation. But I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been — probably would have been killed, but it’s under investigation." However, it is causing even more divide in this already divided country. There have been more protests on both sides of the matter. The result of his hearing will be monumental. Most of America will be listening to hear the result. After reading the article and the blog how do you view the Kyle Rittenhouse case? Was it a shooting, or was it self defense?