Tag Archives: Politics

Robot responds to president’s tweets

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

We should all be at least a little familiar with Donald’s Trump famous Twitter account; @realDonaldTrump.

The president’s tweets are bold and mostly childish, they can be categorized as a form of entertainment, mostly because they are hard to take seriously. He attacks anyone who offends him and twitter seems to be his main medium of expression.

But how will Donald Trump respond to an offense made by a robot?  I’m talking about a robot’s Twitter account responding to the president’s tweets with videos of a robot designed to print and set fire to them.

Since Donald Trump has opened his Twitter account in March 2009, he has gained more than 27 million followers and sent out around 35,000 tweets. His tweets bring with them a lot of controversies and are very condemning, leading to disappointment in the president even among people who voted for him.

This Tuesday a new account was introduced on Twitter with the description “Giving Trump’s tweets the attention they deserve.”

Since it went live, the account called @burnyourtweet, has posted a video each time @realDonaldTrump has tweeted. The videos posted consist of a robot printing the tweet on a piece of paper. The paper is then moved above a lighter, which sets fire to the paper and tosses it in an ashtray.

The video captions “I burned your tweet.”

After just one day of replying directly to Trump’s twitter, @burnyourtweet gained more than 10,000 followers. Many seem to praise this ritual and numerous reporters called it genius. I feel like it can be seen; as a work of art, a form of expression. A message that can be interpreted in various ways, but that shows clear disapproval in Donald Trump’s statements.

Behind the twitter account and the building of the robot is engineer David Neevel. A creative technologist from Portland who currently lives in Amsterdam.

He reasoned that Donald Trump’s tweets continuously cause negative emotions and the robot can isolate feelings because of its immunity to them.

Trump’s tweets depict his thinking. He is supposed to be a leader and an inspirational figure as he is the president of one of the most powerful countries in the world. His Twitter topics are improper for his position. His tweets can be inflammatory and, in this case, the response is a robot that turns his words into ashes.

New York Times curates artisan writing

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By AMANDA PRATS

In the age of fake news, alternative facts and Facebook feeds, attempting to filter through the deluge of media we are faced with can be overwhelming.

For many, the difficulty of this task unfortunately translates into a complete lack of filtering.

Simply put, it’s often easiest to take the information presented to us at face value rather than critically examining our sources. This has led to what some have called a misinformation crisis, with “fake news” stories become a story of their own, particularly during the 2016 presidential election.

Beyond simply trying to find information that is at the very least reliable, challenging our personal views takes a step further. Many have referred to social media as an “echo chamber,” and have criticized it’s functionality as a source for news because we tend to receive information that falls in line with our personal opinions and the opinions of people in our social circles.

There is an incredible value in reading opinions that challenge ours, which is why The New York Times compiled a list of quality partisan writing to expose readers to diverse viewpoints. The list included links to articles from the right, left and center from a variety of sources. The list can be viewed here.

Times checks Trump on false claims

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By AMANDA PRATS

The New York Times released a fact check in response to President Trump’s recent interview with Time magazine.

During the interview, Trump repeatedly falsely cited The Times to support his unsubstantiated accusations of wiretapping of his campaign office.

The statements involved his continued assertion that President Obama wiretapped the phones in Trump Tower during the election, a claim he has repeatedly made despite a complete lack of evidence and support from any intelligence officials.

In his interview, Trump said that The Times altered a headline on an article that originally read as, “Wiretapped data used in inquiry of Trump aides.” He went on to say that the headline was changed to drop the word “wiretap.”

In response to the statements, The Times’ fact check clarified that this was false, and that the original articles which appeared both online and in print were released with different headlines, neither of which were changed at any point. The Times included in its fact check screenshots of the cached website showing the article and headline, unchanged, at various times as the story developed.

The fact check refuted Trump’s usage of The Times’ headline to back his claims. “Neither the print nor online version of the article supports Mr. Trump’s accusation that Mr. Obama ordered surveillance on him,” The New York Times wrote, arguing that Trump’s statements were misleading.

International Women’s Day celebrated

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By CHANTAL ALBA

International Women’s Day is an annual commemoration of the women’s rights movement, that takes place every year on March 8. This year, women had many ways in which they celebrated.

Many women used it as a day of protest, to show why women are important in the world. They used it as a day of praise, to take the time to thank and lift each other up. They used it as a day to hold everyone, including themselves, accountable for the way women are treated in today’s society.

This International Women’s Day called for women to wear the color red. Why red? Wearing red was promoted by the same people who organized the Women’s March on Washington. They stated that they chose the color red for their new campaign because they see it as a “power” color and because it represents “revolutionary love and sacrifice”. The color is a “call to action” for human rights and justice, but to also raise awareness to the women’s right movement.

Many celebrities and politicians took to social media to show their support in the campaign including Salma Hayek, Kerry Washington, Emma Watson, Ellen DeGeneres and Hillary Clinton. Men like Mario Lopez, LeBron James, Jared Leto, and Pharrell Williams decided to join in on the movement and show their support for women.

With everything going on in our nation and around the world, Wednesday showed that the world is still full of people who want to show, give and receive love. It was a beautiful reminder why we must continue to fight the good fight.

Trump re-issues travel ban with changes

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By CHELSEA LOVELL

News media outlets could only talk about President Donald Trump even before he entered office, but it is even more intense as they record his first 100 days. As much as the news media loves to exploit him, President Trump makes it quite easy for journalists to develop stories about him.

The latest making headlines is his continued effort to fulfill what he promised during the campaign, his travel ban policy. Weeks ago, Trump signed an executive order temporarily blocking all refugees and visitors from seven mostly-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. It also banned Syrian refugees indefinitely. The seven prominently Muslim countries are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia.

Trump’s team said the ban was necessary to keep the country safe. However, critics disagree. They believe the ban was unconstitutional for discriminating based on religion and sued to suspend the order. The court put a hold on the ban and Trump and his team went back to work on reforming it.

Yesterday, Trump issued a new ban, however. The difference is Iraq is no longer one of the countries banned. Also, the new ban doesn’t apply to people who already have valid U.S. visas or green cards. Lastly, all refugees are temporarily banned from entering the US except the people who’ve already been granted eligibility to come. Syrian refugees are no longer banned indefinitely. All of this takes effect next week.

Hackathon focuses on abortion rights

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By ISABELLA HALILI

Hackathons are usually held as competitions to see what developers can create the newest and best app, but this weekend it’s a for a much greater cause.

More than 300 developers and activists will come together at the Abortion Access Hackathon. It is a two-day coding marathon in San Francisco that is aiming to find technology-based solutions to support women’s health care providers who fear the new decisions under the Trump Administration.

The organizers of this event have no set game plan, but are thinking of creating an app that educates people on abortion access laws in their state or developing an Uber-like app that will drive women who need it to abortion clinics.

Many abortion providers have financial support, but lack basic operational tools, such as data management and cybersecurity. This event is crucial so to help abortion providers with these issues, but to also shine light on the more relevant issue of Republicans in Congress initiating the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

Although this event is only taking place in California, organizers hope the ideas that come out of this event spread across the country, especially to states that have stricter abortion laws.

A number of women’s health blogs and online magazines have covered this event idea in the past week. TIME also wrote an article discussing the importance of this event. It was smart of the Los Angeles Times to write about this event as well, since it is taking place in California. Teen Vogue is trying to get the young adults more active in political issues by publishing an article about this hackathon as well.

I think there was a wide variety of audiences that were reached with all these different publications and all did a great job on getting the public more involved with political matters.

Media compare Russia issue, Watergate

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By AMANDA PRATS

Unable to resist the allure of a catchy nickname, the writer of a CNN opinion piece wasted no time in dubbing the latest White House controversy “Russiagate.”

Much of the news media have been quick to draw comparisons between the investigation regarding the apparent communications between the Trump campaign and Russian officials and the Watergate scandal.

The opinion piece run by CNN argued that it’s time for “a Watergate-style select committee” to investigate the issue. Vox published an interview with President George W. Bush’s ethics lawyer, who told Vox that, “the facts now in this investigation are much worse than the facts in the early stages of Watergate.” The Fix, a politics blog for The Washington Post, wrote that “Nixon’s former attorney sees ‘echoes of Watergate’ in President Trump’s first month.”

In The Fix’s article, the writer shares that attorney John Dean, who sat before the Senate Watergate Committee, feels an air of familiarity between the current administration and Watergate. In the article, reporter Cleve R. Wootson Jr. writes, “Dean said in an interview aired Friday that President Trump’s first month in office — with its anti-media tirades and efforts to use intelligence agencies for political purposes — has “echoes of Watergate.”

Following the chronology of Nixon’s presidency, The Washington Post piece ended by acknowledging the concern of Trump’s presidency mirroring the ending of Nixon’s, questioning the possibility of impeachment.

The suggestion raised by the question itself could be seen as further evidence of the news media’s rocky relationship with the president; some may argue it was just evidence of wishful thinking.

CNN, Fox offer different views of speech

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By ERYKAH DAVENPORT

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump indicated his interest in seeking to help pass an immigration reform bill.

In CNN’s coverage, this new source referred to it as his “great immigration fake-out” in an article titled “Trump cruel bait-and-switch on immigration.” CNN also reported that another one of Trump’s interests were to propose and potentially pass a bill that could grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants. This would allow for those individuals to gain the opportunity to become legal citizens of the country of their desire.

CNN’s outlook on Trump’s address was seemingly more focused on the shortcomings of anything that was discussed. While emphasizing such limitations, this was said: “While Trump stopped short of endorsing a path to citizenship for the undocumented, this was nonetheless a startling break with his past hard-line stance on immigration.

A senior administration official also told journalists that Trump would be open to legalization for undocumented immigrants who have not committed serious or violent crimes.” This statement portrays the idea that Trump is only willing to consider being open to legalization if the person is accompanied by a clean slate.

Fox News’ approach on his address was more pro-Trump. Some of the political language used in the article titled “Mr. Trump’s very expensive address” delineates Trump as a more conservative president.

The article stated that “compared to his campaign filled with “Trumpisms,” this address was the more positive and optimistic, telling of his new nationalism. He added grace notes about minority groups, shied away from taunting or tormenting his rivals, and summoned his countrymen to the project of restoring, what else, American greatness.

Fox News tends to support the brighter side of things and hardly ever, if ever, mentions the downfalls associated with President Trump’s address.

Trump rescinding transgender policy

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By CHANTAL ALBA

If you haven’t heard, President Trump’s administration announced on Wednesday that it would be rescinding a portion of Title IX, which was issued by the Obama Administration last May, to protect transgender students against discrimination.

According to the Trump Administration, the reason for the rescission was because the Obama-era protection did provide “extensive legal consent” with its positioning in Title IX.

A statement made by the White House said that “As President Trump has clearly stated, he believes policy regarding transgender bathrooms should be decided at the state level, the joint decision made today by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education returning power to the states paves the way for an open and inclusive process to take place at the local level with input from parents, students, teachers and administrators.”

However the Department of Education’s Secretary, Betsy DeVos, did not agree with the decision. DeVos was reportedly “pushed” by both of the departments to signing off on rescinding the policy because they had already decided to move forward.

However, she made a statement agreeing that protecting all students, no matter what gender they identify with or sexuality is a key priority for every school in America, but best solved at the state and local levels.

This is a very easy subject to have mixed views on, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but at the same time everyone is entitled to equal respect and a country that is going fight to keep them safe no matter how they choose to live their lives.

As we plunge further into “Trump’s America,” we need to remember that it is important that we continue to fight the good fight in the most peaceful way possible. What has happened in the past few weeks has set the tone for what will be going on for the next four years, but it is no reason to get discouraged about all the progress we have already made. It’s just time for us to become stronger and stick together like never before to protect those who are not being protected by the system as they should be protected.

FBI refuses to discredit news media

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By AMANDA PRATS

In an exclusive story, CNN reported that the White House asked the FBI to deny news media reports regarding communications between Donald Trump’s advisers and Russia.

The stories discussed were reports by The New York Times and CNN that there was “constant communication between high-level advisers to then-candidate Trump, Russian officials and other Russians known to U.S. intelligence” before the election.

According to the White House official who informed the story, the request from White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus came after the FBI told the White House that it did not believe The New York Times’ reporting was accurate. The FBI has not commented publicly on the story and has not backed this position.

These requests were reportedly made despite restrictions that are meant to limit communication between the White House and the FBI regarding pending investigations, according to CNN’s Evan Perez, one of the journalists who investigated the story. Perez explained on “Erin Burnett OutFront” that these restrictions date back to 2007 and 2009, when the Justice Department issued memos limiting such communications.

In what has become a common practice of Trump’s administration, the White House issued a denial of the reports. Priebus called the New York Times story “complete garbage,” going on “Fox News Sunday” to say, “That story is not only inaccurate, but it’s grossly overstated and it was wrong. And there’s nothing to it.”

Despite these efforts to discredit the reporting of The New York Times and CNN, the investigation into the possible communications between Russian officials and the Trump campaign is ongoing.

Fox News’ Smith criticizes Trump

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By AMANDA PRATS

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith surprised many with a biting criticism of President Donald Trump on his show Thursday. Smith’s comments were in response to the president’s continued criticism of the news media, most recently during his Thursday press conference, which Smith described as “absolutely crazy.”

During the press conference, President Trump berated CNN’s Jim Acosta, averting his question and going on an extensive, dizzying rant about the news media.

Smith was critical of the president’s response to the question, defending Acosta and the news media as a whole.

“We’re not fools for asking the questions and we demand to know the answer to this question. You owe this to the American people,” Smith said on his show, pressing the president to take reporters’ questions seriously.

“We have a right to know. You call us fake news and put us down like children for asking these questions on behalf of the American people,” Smith said, referring to the president’s habit of referring to widely regarded organizations as “fake news.”

Smith’s response is only the latest in the saga of conflict between the president and the news media. Throughout his campaign, President Trump has repeatedly alleged that a plethora of news outlets are dishonest, ineffective or failing. The only program spared from the criticism seems to be the morning show “Fox & Friends,” for which the president has previously expressed his praise, and which he specifically mentioned during the press conference for being “very honorable people.”

Despite the president’s many attempts to discredit CNN, the news organization has not suffered, according to CNN President Jeff Zucker. In a state-of-the-company luncheon on Thursday, Zucker and other top executives from CNN and Turner announced that ratings are high, no advertisers have pulled out, and there has been no harm to the CNN brand.

Immigrants’ day sends message

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

America’s new political situation seems to focus on segregating immigrants from their families and their homes but, within this alarming situation, something positive is being created. The unification of immigrants and non-immigrants to stand and fight together for their rights, bringing to the surface the humanity and acceptance that there is and that should be encouraged.

“A Day Without Immigrants” is a boycott that occurred on Thursday, encouraged by activists to all Immigrants around the nation to protest and highlight the importance and contribution of their presence in the United States.

This boycott encouraged the protesters to not attend work, not send children to school, not shop online or in stores, not to eat at restaurants, not to buy gas and not to attend class.

President Donald Trump has created bad relations with numerous countries, such as Mexico and Syria, by making them outsiders and wanting to kick their citizens out of America. Trump has vowed to deprive sanctuary cities of federal funding, increase the deportation of legal and illegal immigrants, and he has blamed the high unemployment rate on them.

In response to these recent events involving Donald Trump’s immigration policies, immigrants all around the nation went on strike to send a message to the president.

On the poster advertising the boycott, it said: “To the president: without us and our contribution this country is paralyzed.”

Awareness of this protest mainly happened through social media and posters, in addition to immigrant rights groups reaching out personally. This protest was meant to involve all undocumented, residents, citizens, immigrants from all over the world, but ended up getting more support.

All around the United States, business and restaurants were closed and thousands of students did not attend school. Some of the most visibly affected areas were in San Francisco and Washington, D.C, where popular chefs closed their restaurants in support for the protest.

Restaurants were the most impacted by the strike. Some restaurants canceled their long-standing reservations and served limited menus, donating earnings to the American Civil Liberties Union. The collaboration of not just immigrants alone, but even citizens, emphasizes the acceptance and unity that the United States is known to have by embracing its diversity.

There were restaurants that posted banners outside their establishments to spread the message. Such as Nickel’s Diner in Los Angeles, that put up a sign saying “We are all immigrants.”

Some immigrant communities discouraged the participation in this protest because it was risky and did not want to put immigrants in a more difficult situation. Many immigrants stated that they really wish they could participate in this boycott but could not risk losing their jobs. Nevertheless, they fully supported the protest.

Organizers of this protest warned the participators that there was a possibility of risk when getting involved in this boycott, but that they needed to be ready to take that risk. If you have a life somewhere, a life that includes your friends, your family, your education, your job and your home; the idea that one day you may have nothing is terrifying.

Understandably, you have to fight to not lose everything you have. To me, it makes sense that many immigrants are willing to take this risk.

The protest “A Day Without Immigrants” is a way of sending a direct message indirectly, by highlighting the role of immigrants in the life of Americans by not having them there.

Having many immigrants stay home for a day, impacts everyone’s everyday life in different ways. It is unfair that entire communities are criminalized, there are bad and good people everywhere.  It is good to see people come together and fight for their dignity and their lives.

Trump doesn’t comment on Quebec

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

Donald Trump’s ethics are continuously questioned as he seems to easily get distracted from his duties as president and focus more on his family name and business, then on the real issues that keep arising worldwide.

Last Sunday, six people were killed and eight others were wounded in a shooting in a mosque in the city of Quebec. Trump has not said anything about this tragedy, but seems to be willing to share his opinions of his daughter’s clothing line.

The Quebec shooting, which occurred in a mosque, a Muslim place of worship, was an unexpected event as mass shootings, unlike in the United States, are fairly uncommon in Canada. The attack occurred at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec, in a country which became known as a safe place for refugees running from warfare and terrorism in countries of Muslim majority. The shooter, although native Canadian seemed to be a Trump supporter. This makes it a very delicate topic, especially after Donald’s Trump travel ban ruling.

As people waited on the opinion of the president, he said nothing about this misfortune and didn’t even share his compassion. Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior advisor justified the silence of Donald Trump by saying that he doesn’t tweet about everything. But by now we all seem to be too familiar with Donald Trump’s tweets, and so is Seth Meyers, the host on Late night, who called Trump out for his silence.

“Oh, he doesn’t tweet about everything?” Meyers said on “Late Night,” “It sure feels like he does!” Seth Meyers scrolled through Donald Trump’s tweets and pointed his tweet attacking Nordstrom, right after his intelligence briefing.

Nordstrom is an American chain of luxury department stores which announced they were no longer going to carry Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. Donald Trump tweeted “Ivanka has been treated so unfairly.” Many journalists strongly acknowledge Donald Trump’s lack of priorities and ethical behavior. The New York times brought up how Trump breaks Tradition by “singling out companies for criticism like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, automakers and news organizations.”

Donald Trump keeps constant attention on his family business, he gets overprotective when it comes to the family name, but when it comes to real issues he seems to lack the ability to make statements to show acceptance and give the nation a state of tranquility.

Donald Trump and his administration keep showing how business oriented they are instead of focusing on political issues. This only builds up continuous criticism instead and lack of trust in everything they say.  For example, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump and White house official promoted Ivanka Trump’s clothing line in a television interview and is continuing to receive criticism on ethical violations.

“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff,” Conway said “Ivanka Trump has a wonderful line, I own some of it. I fully, I’m gonna just going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today everybody. You can find it online.” This unacceptable comment proves the lack of orientation of Trumps administration on topics that actually matter through the use of unfair business practices. This is a Potential violation of Federal ethics law that bars the use of public office for public gain.

As we still wait on his opinion on the shooting in Quebec, silence can be stronger than words, suggesting that Donald Trump does not have an interest in commenting about the shooting because he doesn’t care.

The focus in the White House needs to be prioritized and stabilized on important issues, as the distraction on personal matters gets more attention than it should. Clear opinions and solutions need to be shared more, as this will give everyone more intellectual topics to read and talk about, instead of the constant dramatic and ridiculous affairs.

Journalists confront Trump’s claims

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By AMANDA PRATS

In response to the White House’s list of 78 terror attacks that President Trump said were unreported by the news media, journalists have taken a direct approach in shutting down Trump’s claims.

The list included events that were reported nearly ad nauseam, including even the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and the November 2015 Paris attacks. These events and many of the others listed dominated news coverage for weeks, filling hours of air time and countless articles in print and online.

The list seems to have been primarily released in an attempt to support Trump’s repeated assertion that the media is dishonest and ineffective; the focus on terrorist attacks that were apparently influenced by radical Islam seems to be an effort to validate Trump’s recent policies regarding Muslim-majority countries.

In response to the list, journalists from news organizations across the nation and abroad have chimed in. CNN’s Anderson Cooper clarified on air that many of the attacks mentioned in the list he personally reported on, playing clips of him reporting from San Bernadino, Orlando and Paris, among many more.

On screen, the lower third read “WH releases list of undercovered attacks,” and in parenthesis, “(We covered many).” The New York Times published the list from the White House along with links to its own articles on nearly each attack.

Business Insider Australia reported on the five Australian incidents mentioned on the list, one of which was the fatal stabbing of two Australian backpackers. The incident was never determined by Australian police to be related to terrorism.

The family of one of the deceased reacted to the list with an open letter to Trump on Facebook, in which she shared that she began blogging to dispel what she called the myth that Islamic fundamentalism was the driving factor behind her daughter’s death.

The victim’s mother ended the post by denouncing Trump’s actions and framing of the attacks, writing “This vilification of whole nation states and their people based on religion is a terrifying reminder of the horror that can ensue when we allow ourselves to be led by ignorant people into darkness and hatred.”

Super Bowl Ads send a message

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By CHANTAL ALBA

If you watched the 2017 Super Bowl LI, then you probably saw how some of the Super Bowl commercials took a political stance. It’s clear that President Trump’s policies and his overall views on politics, sparked ideas for many big-name companies to show which side they stand on.

Audi used its 60-second commercial spot to speak about gender equality. Starting the commercial off with the words “What will I tell my daughter?” with an image of the narrator’s daughter in a soap-box car race.

The commercial continues on with the young girl racing against boys and her “dad” doing the voiceover asking questions like “Do I tell her despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets?”, to bring up key issues with gender equal in America.

The commercial then ends with him saying “or maybe I’ll be able to tell her something different” and Audi stating their stance on equal pay by letting viewers know that “Audi of America is committed to equal pay for equal work.”

Airbnb decided to highlight Trump’s anti-immigration ban and show that they are against it. The commercial shows the faces of real human beings of different gender, race, sexuality, and religion with the words “We believe no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love or who you worship, we all belong. The world is more beautiful when you accept.” When Airbnb originally purchased its ad-spot, it had a different concept in mind. But because of Donald Trump’s travel ban, they were inspired to take a stance and send the message “We Accept” to everyone watching the Super Bowl LI.

Despite everything that is going wrong in America, it is comforting to know that companies we know, love and trust, do not share the same views with a president who causes so much hate and mistrust in a country that is suppose to be free and full of love.

Texas gets transgender elected official

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By ALISON GOEBEL

A Collin County mayor in Texas came out on Feb. 1. This is historically significant given that Texas has never had a transgender elected official, nor did I expect it to any time soon.

The mayor, Jess Herbst, made the announcement that she was transgender in an open letter to the town’s residents.

Most of Texas is known to be very conservative. Issues such as the “bathroom bill” that Republicans proposed was set in place to ban transgender people from using public bathrooms of their choice. With this bill and large numbers of people to support it, it is surprising that the mayor of New Hope is transgender.

Collin County, where New Hope lies, is considered one of the most conservative suburban areas in Texas. To put it into perspective, President Donald Trump won this area by 17 percentage points in the general election.

I think that journalists who covered this story did an exceptional job. I first came across this story on BBC which is known to be a more liberal international news network. Once I read the story there, I searched for it elsewhere. Numerous smaller newspapers around Texas covered the story as well as the Huffington Post, CBS and other news organizations.

I then checked Fox News, already thinking that it might not even have the story about it, or, that it was skewed into something its targeted audience (conservatives) would appreciate.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found the story there with no apparent bias. It was in this moment that I was proud of the news coverage on this story.

Although it was covered well, I did run into an issue as I read the story from all the different news stations. It was a lot of recycled material. The direct quotations were the same, given she had only released just a few, but also the content was very similar as well. This is something people have to keep in mind when reading stories from various news stations.

We have to ask the question, are journalists becoming lazy? Is recycled information the new norm?

Nordstrom drops Ivanka Trump products

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By ISABELLA HALILI

Nordstrom is a luxury department store that has removed the Ivanka Trump brand online and in stores. It claims to have made this decision based off the brand’s poor performance in recent months.

Nordstrom hopes that its decision to sell or not to sell Ms. Trump’s brand, now and in the future, is no indication of its political affiliation. It’s all business. If the store keeps buying products that don’t sell, that money just goes to waste.

Poor performance is not the only factor in the ending of Ms. Trump’s brand in Nordstrom stores. The initial move to end the brand’s appearance in stores came from the public. The campaign called #GrabYourWallet made a huge effort in making this possible. This campaign encourages shoppers to boycott any products that have any tie to President Trump or his family.

Shannon Coulter, the co-founder of the campaign, said that supporting certain brands that have ties to President Trump are in turn supporting him.

Nordstrom is not the only business to pull products from its stores. Macy’s is another department store that decided back in 2015 to stop selling President Trump’s dress shirts after he used rude language to generalize about Mexican immigrants.

I don’t think it’s a company’s duty to take a political stance in any situation, but at the place we are now as a country, it’s hard for them not to take one.

Conyers’ son has gone missing

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By COURTNEY CHENNAULT

This week, the disappearance of Carl Conyers, son of John Conyers Jr. (D-Michigan), the longest-serving active member of the House of Representatives, is calling the attention of many.

According to CNN, Conyers, a student at the University of Houston, went missing after a series of mysterious events. To enhance the story and likely increase reader interest, CNN laid out the facts as if they were puzzle pieces begging to be assembled by the reader.

The first part of the report is entitled, “Message from Conyers’ account: ‘I’m OK.”  In this section, CNN reported that Daisha Lewis, Conyers’ girlfriend, went to Conyers’ home on Wednesday and noticed that Conyers’ clothes were next to his backpack with his wallet, an envelope filled with pictures, and his primary phone charging. Conyers and his second phone were not there.

The next day, Lewis was still at Conyers’ home when she received a message from him via Twitter that said, “I’m OK.” Soon after, Conyers’ told Lewis and their friends to meet him on campus. While on their way to campus, Lewis felt suspicion regarding Conyers’ message and decided to return to his home, where she discovered Conyers’ ID and debit card were newly missing. Furthermore, clothes from his dresser and his house keys were gone.

In the next section, “He suddenly shaved his beard,” CNN reported that Conyers suddenly shaved a beard he had been growing for a year.

The third section, “A second phone,” reveals a very interesting observation.  According to CNN, Lewis discovered that the IP address for the aforementioned tweets that Conyers sent her was the same as Conyers’ apartment Wi-Fi.  She stated that Conyers, or someone else, could have been tweeting on this second phone, which had been missing from the start, in the parking lot of the apartment while Lewis was inside.

The sections continue in the same intriguing fashion and inform the reader that no suspicious activity was discovered in Conyers’ bank account, social media platform, etc.

Finally, CNN stated that the FBI is helping authorities in the search for the 21-year-old student.

This article pulls the reader in and almost encourages him to make speculations about what happened. As a result, it is likely that the reader will actively stay tuned as the investigation continues.

This story is particularly interesting to me as I am familiar with the Conyers family. We are from the same community, I went to school with Conyers’ cousins and I have many mutual friends with Conyers himself. I certainly hope he is safe and returns home soon.

Protests show discontent with Trump

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By MARISSA VONESH

Since Donald Trump became the president-elect on Nov. 8, citizens across the United States have protested the president-elect himself along with other concerns.

Protests – mainly generated in urban areas – have grown to be more than just a defiance of Trump and his actions. Now, protestors, dominantly young adults, are peacefully taking the streets to advocate for minority rights and overall discontent with American politics.

However, many protesters did not even participate in this year’s election. For example, in Oregon about two-thirds of the arrested protesters either chose not to vote or were and are not registered to vote.

The dissatisfaction with Trump has cultivated a platform for the American public to walk together and discuss discontent. Aside from political protests, now protests against the Dakota Oil pipeline are popping up across the country.

News media outlets have covered the nationwide protests and other impacts of the election, such as the increased hate crimes towards minorities and violence towards Trump supporters.

The news organizations are taking their traditional biases. Fox News continues to speculate on whether the protests are real or paid propaganda and discusses the millennial dissatisfaction with a mocking tone. On the other hand, many outlets besides Fox have failed to report maltreatment of Trump supporters and have leaned heavily left following the election.

Where all organizations are failing is the in represention of the people who voted for Trump. Where are the people who voted for Trump? What are their lives like? Are they all rural, uneducated, white males?

Social media is overwhelmed with posts claiming, “Maybe not all Trump supporters are racists, sexist, etc., but they all decided that they weren’t deal breakers.” With comments like these, the protests and the general effects of the election, it appears like those who voted for Trump have no voice. Dialogue is not happening between the opposing views, yet it is necessary for both sides to state their opinions in order for the country to prosper.

Although racism, sexism and hatred in general should never be tolerated, there is an entire segment of the United States population that has been put into a box and dismissed.

In a few instances, media is speculating about these voters. For example, in a post on Glenn Beck’s website by Riaz Patel, executive producer of Axial Entertainment, Patel shares his experience as a gay, Muslim, Pakistani-American immigrant trying to understand Trump voters in Alaska.

This reflection sheds more light on the Trump voters than most news organizations have presented. Patel explains their economic struggles and their hope for a change. Patel suggests that a selection of the population was voting for social issues, whereas another was voting for “survival.”

By exploring the Trump voters’ perspectives in black and white perspectives, the American media is, in many ways, continuing to point fingers and divide the nation. When most of the American public sit in an area of gray, it is extremely important that journalists investigate and report fairly to make a more informed society. Hate from all sides is only exacerbated by the media, and although news does not create the hate, it does have the power to quell it in many instances.

Information is key. Unbiased reporting is key. Thorough investigation is key. When the news outlets are failing to put these type stories on the front page or on their Facebooks, more divide, and sadly mistrust, is cultivated.

Trump criticizes news media

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By DANIEL LLOVERAS

Numerous news media outlets, including CNN, NPR and The New York Times, reported Wednesday that Donald Trump’s presidential transition was in a state of disarray.

According to the reports, the disarray was marked by the firing of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the subsequent hiring of Vice President-elect Mike Pence as chair of the transition. It was reported that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, purged the transition team of anyone affiliated with Christie.

Trump emphatically refuted the claims of turmoil in his transition team. Trump attacked the news media, particularly The New York Times, for the reports.

screen-shot-2016-11-16-at-6-03-58-pmHe tweeted that the reports were “so totally wrong” and that the transition was going “so smoothly.”

While Trump’s criticism of news media organizations is nothing new, his attacks will carry more significance now that he has been elected.

Since Trump has the tendency to deny any negative coverage involving him, the role of the news media may increase during a Trump presidency.

News media outlets have a responsibility to seek the truth and report it. Journalists must remain vigilant in spite of Trump’s denial and make sure that the American people are not being lied to by the president-elect.