Idea Farming

1. Our project, creating an appreciation video from members of Mr. Baratti’s AP Euro periods, came from the need of “kindness”. Mr. Baratti had shown us kindness this entire school year, and we wanted to reciprocate and give him something that he would enjoy as he was recovering from surgery. Seeing as all six of us had fond memories of Mr. Baratti and our time in his second period AP Euro class, we felt like we should give back to him and pay homage to how much better he made this year.

2. We came up with the topic of “solving world hunger” because we saw that as a major problem in the book “Night”. In the book, the various characters often struggled with starvation, malnutrition, and loss of energy from lack of food. While this problem is not present today nearly as much as the 1940s, it is still a problem that plagues underdeveloped countries. Thus, we decided that world hunger is an important problem that still exists in the world today.

3.

4. In completing our video project for Mr. Baratti, we had many struggles and successes. Our biggest problem was that a good amount of people in both periods either said they were interested or said that they were going to submit videos, and we were left having to continuously ask for them to submit it, even after asking Mr. Williams(our long term substitute in Baratti) to announce it twice, and even after I posted a reminder on my Instagram story. Even after all that, a grand total of five people from first period submitted videos, and we only had everyone from our period(second) because we organized a group shot on the deadline of submissions. However, we were successful in making a great video to the best of our abilities that included a variety of people from the two periods.

5. Here is the link to the finished video.

I think we did something amazing for Mr. Baratti, and I feel like he will truly appreciate what we have done. Next time, I think we should do a better job in getting the project out to everyone and making sure that everyone could have a role in filming what is meant to be not only an appreciation video, but also an end of the year present for Mr. Baratti as a way to thank him for making this year truly spectacular.

Faith, Fire, and Friendship

One thing in the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque that I really enjoyed and wanted to expand more on was that throughout the story, the narrator, Paul Baumer, had both frequent and friendly interactions with his many friends and rivals during the course of the war. I felt like these relationships brought more life to the story, made it more interesting and realistic, and made the events of the story, specifically the tragic ones, much more impactful to the reader.

Consider that Baumer felt angry and war-weary for much of the book(a common opinion of the time, and one not just limited to the German side), having to deal with both a strict camp life and the possibility that he could die any day of the war. He already felt disillusioned by Kantorek, his former teacher, whose allegedly false promises of glory and prestige about the German military he had believed. Paul’s friends and their antics and banter provide a welcome contrast to daily routine of the Kaiser’s army.

Scene from the 1930 movie adaptation, the soldiers in a trench

An early example of this can be found in Chapter 3, where Baumer and his friends Tjaden, Kropp, and Haie Westhus, all fellow soldiers in his battalion, play a prank on their demanding and overbearing commanding officer, Corporal Himmelstoss. Himmelstoss had forced those under his command to undergo pain and humiliation, such as humiliating bedwetters(like Tjaden, who develops a vicious hatred of Himmelstoss as a result), ordering Baumer to shine his boots an unreasonable number of times, and forcing his soldiers do redo drills until he deems them perfect. The prank that the men play on him, beating him with a whip in an act of revenge, is a rather light hearted and playful contrast(except for Himmelstoss) when one looks back at how miserable he made the camp life. It was Paul’s bond with his fellow soldiers, and their shared annoyance with the corporal, that made this contrast possible.

Baumer’s close relationships with his friends and those he admires also enhance some tragic moments, making them feel memorable and impactful to the reader where they would otherwise be forgettable and just a meaningless statistic, a footnote in the war. Even Kemmerich, a minor character only present in the first two chapters of the book, has a meaningful and impactful death. However, his death is nothing compared to the later deaths of Muller, Leer, and especially Katczinsky, or “Kat”, a man who Baumer greatly admired, and whose death made the greatest impact on Baumer. All these men had been friends of Baumer for years, and each one of their deaths hit Baumer hard, and causes him to lose even more of his dwindling supply of faith and hope. Kat’s death in Chapter 11, the second-to-last chapter, is Baumer’s last straw, to the point where he loses interest in whether or not he survives the war. It is obvious to the reader that Baumer cared greatly about his comrades, and bearing witness to their deaths throughout the book deeply affected his mental state.

Scene from the 1930 movie adaptation, Baumer and Kropp

The final thing that the story’s friendships and relationships brought was the feeling of realism that accompanied it, and how it gave the story more depth. Each of Baumer’s friends had their own personality and their own opinion of the war. Kat was like a father figure to the men, and treated the war as a necessity, Kropp and Detering are seen as homesick and against the war, and Tjaden is the clown and rebel of the group who looks out for them all. Their personalities and viewpoints serve as commentary on the events of the war. Even characters seen as antagonists manage to add to this feeling of realism. Himmelstoss’s humbling and his change in attitude towards the men, as well as the formerly patriotic Kantorek’s exposure and humiliation as a hypocrite both add realism to the story. The former shows how war can evoke change in the opinions and attitudes of others, and the latter shows how even the most pro-war individuals in society began to secretly loathe and dread the war as it progressed.

I truly feel that the companionship and relations between the men in the battalion depicted throughout the novel enriched the story and invoked themes of playfulness, loss, and realism at different moments. Paul Baumer most likely could not have made it through the beginning of the book without his friends, and the loss of so many of them later on gave him a fatalistic outlook on his impending death, to the point where he was indifferent about whether or not he was die, up until his actual death at the end. Erich Maria Remarque’s decision to include a large number of both unique and individual characters to serve as friends, rivals, and enemies of Baumer was truly a necessary and integral part of the book.

My Personal Global School Play Day 2019

The following is my account of my personal Global School Play Day 2019.

Our class participated in Global School Play Day on Wednesday, February 6, 2019. Because we were in sixth period and people like to hang out near the outside cafeteria tables during our period, we were restricted to the area around Mr. Ziebarth’s room. I had been planning to bring a handball because Peter and Anton already said that they wanted to have a handball competition, but I had unfortunately forgotten to get it that morning before I left for school. Luckily, Mr. Theriault had an entire bag full of handballs and footballs already there at school, probably in expectation that people would forget to bring them.

Once sixth period arrived, our class waited outside Mr. Theriault’s in anticipation. Unfortunately, it had been extremely cold and windy the entire week, and that day was no exception. After he opened the door, we retrieved all the board games and ball bags that were in the room, as well as bulkier items that people had brought, such as Diana’s waffle maker that she was going to use to make Vietnamese coconut waffles. After we got to Mr. Ziebarth’s room, Mr. Theriault explained the rules to us: no using electronics and don’t bother any other classes. Other than that, we were free to do what we wanted. We also found out that Mr. Theriault is unable to knock the string pulley from the projector onto the hook at the top of Mr. Ziebarth’s whiteboard.

Immediately after Mr. Theriault finished talking, we went off to do our own fun activities. Peter, Anton, Eryk, Anh’s cousin whose name I forgot, and I left the room and went outside to play handball. It was really fun, but I received the very depressing realization that my handball skills had still not improved since elementary school, where I was just as bad. In my defense, Eryk was hitting shots on both extremes- both extremely low and extremely high, and it always seemed like one of the other guys was standing in the way of me running across the court. Despite all of this, I still managed to win a couple of times, much smaller compared to the other guys, and still had a blast.

One really funny thing that happened during our games was the fact that random teachers and supervision members would be walking through the area during the period. As they passed by, they would sometimes ask us(jokingly) what class we were in. We had to tell them that we were in English, and they would walk away with a funny look. One time, when Mr. Nelson, the band teacher, walked past and asked us which class we were in, Eryk actually said “English Honors”. After Mr. Nelson left, I told Eryk that he should have left off the “Honors” part. It made his answer that much worse.

At sometime during the middle of the handball session, we went back inside the room, where Diana had finished making the waffles(they were really good by the way). We washed those down with Kathleen’s “tea”, which was just water. This lasted for a little while, until Kathleen spilled the water all over the floor and we had to clean it up. I left the table after Anton and Kathleen began talking and making jokes in Vietnamese(which I do not speak, despite being half-Vietnamese) to go find people who were speaking in a language which I could understand. I ended up going back outside with the other guys to play handball once more. We played handball until nearly the end of the period, after which I tossed a football back and forth with Anton until going back inside right before the bell rang.

Overall, the experience was very fun and left a lot of great memories. I wish that more teachers participated in this event because it was a welcome break from a routine of studying and labor everyday, and I’m glad Mr. Theriault was nice enough to facilitate it by bringing balls and board games. My friend Brian, who is in first period stated something that I thought was very true about Global School Play Day, that “…you are never too old to play games and have fun with your friends.” That was a very true and extremely valuable lesson that I too learned from Global School Play Day.

Don’t be Idle in Italy

The following is a list of the top ten places that I would want to visit if I went on a hypothetical trip to Italy.

10. Spanish Steps

I would want to visit the Spanish Steps, a famous staircase in Rome built during the mid 18th century, because it is a well known landmark in Rome, a city that I would definitely visit. Several famous movies were filmed there, including Roman Holiday, a movie that brought greater attention to the landmark as an interesting location to see while in Rome.

 

9. Trevi Fountain

It would be cool to visit the Trevi Fountain, a massive Baroque fountain/temple in the heart of Rome, because it is such an iconic landmark of Rome and of Italy itself, and because it would be great to see such a great example of authentic Classical architecture built during the time of the Renaissance.

 

8. Sicily

Sicily, a large island of the southern coast of mainland Italy, would be such a beautiful place to visit. Ancient temples and tombs from the Greek and Roman eras are still present on the island, and at least from pictures, the island looks beautiful.

 

7. Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in northern Italy famous for its beautiful landscapes and farmland, and for being wine country. I would want to visit it simply because of its beauty, and because of the many different places to see. Tuscany is also home to the Italian city of Pisa and the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, another iconic landmark in Italy.

 

6. Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel, the home of Michelangelo’s famous ceiling painting “The Last Judgement”, would be cool to visit purely for the historical value of seeing the world-famous piece of artwork and the general awe in taking in the fact that it was painted 500 years ago by a celebrated Renaissance man.

 

5. Pantheon

It would be awe inspiring to be able to visit the Pantheon, a prominent Roman temple built by the Roman Emperor Augustus thousands of years ago. Once a temple for the Roman religion, it became a church during the Middle Ages, but still is associated with Roman polytheism and their gods. I personally think that the Pantheon would be a great place to visit.

 

4. Venice

Venice is an extremely famous and iconic city in northeastern Italy, well known throughout the world for having flooded streets. People going about the city are forced to ride long boats, called gondolas, through the rivers that make up the streets. If I went to Venice, I think it would be a truly unique experience to ride around the city in a gondola.

 

3. Vatican City

Even though the Vatican City is technically its own country, it is located in the heart of Rome, the capital of Italy, and is on the Italian peninsula. The Vatican City is most known for being the center of the Catholic Church, and the location of St. Peter’s Basilica, a massive Catholic Church in the center of Rome, and St. Peter’s Square, pictured above. There are so many different activities to do and places to see in such as small location. It would be awe-inspiring to visit purely for the cultural significance it has on the world.

 

2. Colosseum

Perhaps the most well known landmark in Italy, the Colosseum was originally built during the Roman Era and was known as the Flavian Amphitheater. It was used for gladiatorial fights, plays, fighting animals, and executions. I believe that it is a must see location for any trip of mine to Italy.

 

1. Pompeii

Finally, the place that I would want to visit the most in Italy is the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which was buried under ash after a volcano eruption, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in 79 A.D. The eruption preserved the buildings and now historical objects stored within the city, which are on display for tourists. The city of Pompeii would be my number one choice for places to visit in Italy.

 

Hooked on Bad Drug Policy

“For once, I didn’t look back.”

Everyone knows that drugs are bad, and this often spills into drug policy devised by the United States government. Now, I usually consider myself a conservative libertarian, but one place where I break with that is on drug policy and legalization. When I was younger, I used to be rather supportive of drug legalization, but I’ve learned better, and no longer support drugs, which I believe hurts both the users and those around them. In places all around the United States, especially in the Upper Midwest and New England, drug use, particularly opioids, have devastated the area. That’s why I support organizations such as the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, and legislation to protect families, such as the recently passed opioids bill. They help people who have previously been hooked by drugs to regain their lives and independence from drugs or narcotics.

Another turning point in my views on drugs was when my home state, California, passed Proposition 64 in 2016, the so-called Adult Use of Marijuana Act. By then, I was completely against drug use, even cannabis, seen as more mild by users. While I was disappointed by the result, it only strengthened my hardline views against all forms of drug use. To conclude, my recommendation is to be against all forms of drug use. Drugs provide little comfort and escape from reality, at a horrible cost.

 

Not Newsworthy: Childhood Experiences

DISCLAIMER: The following eight stories are childhood experiences of mine. They have absolutely nothing to do with politics or current events, and I make no guarantees to their humor content or their authenticity. Thank you in advance.

Footsteps

Throughout my entire life, and even to this day, I have been able to tell who in my house is walking outside my door just by the sound of their footsteps. Everyone has a distinct way of walking, or a unique way that their feet hit the floorboards.  I’m sure everyone has a similar situation in their home, but this is mine, and to me, it is unique and special. After all, your footsteps say a lot about you.

My father’s footsteps are heavy, and make a fair amount of noise every time he walks somewhere. His footsteps are by far the easiest to hear and are the easiest to predict the destination of. My mother’s footsteps are the complete opposite of my father’s: soft, quiet, and are easy to miss. I still don’t know how my mom makes so little noise walking somewhere at a normal pace. Finally, my younger brother’s footsteps are so easy to identify because he often wears sandals in the house, and you can hear a distinct clicking sound as they make contact with the bottom of his feet.

What about me? To be honest, I never really thought about my own footsteps at all before now. However, if I had to guess, they’re probably on the lighter side, because I only weigh about 110 lbs, and on the quieter side, because I wear socks inside the house, not being able to wear shoes due to my culture. I’ll have to listen more closely next time I’m inside my house.

A Desire for a Dog

Growing up, I had many longings and desires. I wanted more independence, I wanted to be able to play violent video games, I wanted to eat out at restaurants every night… the list goes on. One childhood desire in particular that still irks me to this day is the argument I had over owning a dog. I wanted (and in fact still want) to own a golden retriever, which I remember deciding at the wise, knowledgeable age of eight. As any eight-year old third grader would do, I decided to ask my mom if we could get one. Her answer?

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Your brother has asthma, and he would be affected by the dog hairs. Also, if we were to get one, you wouldn’t take care of it.”

The first part was true enough, so I suggested that we get a beagle, my second choice. If you didn’t know, beagles shed very moderately. That was also rejected, for the same reason in the first time I tried, that I wouldn’t take care of it. Her justification was that I had a goldfish when I was five (true), and it died after less than a year because I didn’t try to take care of it, which is not true. I was five, and I tried to explain that to her , but she didn’t listen. To this day, I still don’t have a dog, and I can thank a dead goldfish for that.

Discrimination by Height

When I was in fourth grade, I went to one of my friends’ birthday parties. It was at Boomers, the one near the 405 Freeway in Fountain Valley. During one part of the party, some of my friends and I went to the go-kart area near the golf course. There were about seven or eight of us, and several parents, one of whom was my dad. As you can probably guess, I wanted to ride the go-karts along with my friends. They have a height restriction, which might have changed from when I went years ago, and I remember being shorter by an inch or two. I believe I was one of the only two people who didn’t go on the go-karts, but the other person  had been getting over being sick, and didn’t want to go on the go-carts. That meant that I was the only person in the group who didn’t ride for height reasons!

That really annoyed me, and I remember getting into a brief argument with my dad over going on the go-karts. In the end, I didn’t go on the ride. There was nothing worse than watching my friends go on the ride, while I was at the outside fence, I’ll never forget the first and only time that I was discriminated against on the basis of height or physical characteristics.

I’m just kidding. Obviously, I was not “discriminated” against. Still, that irritated me greatly at the time, and I still remember the incident today.
Companionship in a Club

When I was in eighth grade at Fulton Middle School, I was in a club, which was different from the previous two years. I wanted, and still want, to be an attorney when I finally pursue a career, so I decided to join the brand-new Mock Trial Club. They had an eighth-grade only Law and Order class the year prior, but it was eliminated due to lack of interest, and was replaced with the club. The club advisor and the teacher that ran it was Mr. Hood, my seventh and eighth grade history teacher, who  was also my favorite teacher. However, one of the best parts of the whole experience was that I had about four or five friends in the club with me.

The club was really enjoyable. We spent the first few months learning about legal proceedings and how to “object” and make a decent argument. However, from about December 2016 to early March 2017, Mr. Hood was actually gone for some reason, probably because he got sick. So, the club was largely canceled for four months, and we had to pick up where we left off when he came back. Once he did come back, we started our first “trial”. I played a defense witness in our “trial”, and thankfully, I was with some friends on the defense team.

Unfortunately, the club only got through one “trial” before the year ended, but we had started another in which I was actually supposed to play the part of a prosecutor. Despite this, I’ll never forget the experience of being with friends in a competitive club in the eighth grade.

Tae-Kwon-Do

When I was a kid, probably from six or seven years old to nine, my parents enrolled me in a Tae-Kwon-Do class. Tae-Kwon-Do is  a fairly popular form of martial arts started in Korea. I took my lessons with my younger brother at the Boys and Girls Club in Fountain Valley, near the library and police station. It was pretty fun starting out, and I could tell that I had a lot of potential. We took the class, which was every Saturday, with a bunch of other kids whose parents made them go. For the first few years, everything seemed to be going well. Through testing, I was able to move quickly through the ranks of Tae-Kwon-Do. I advanced from a white belt (sorry, Spongebob fans: no clear belt), to a red belt, the second-highest rank and the one before black belt, which was the highest. However, testing for the black belt was where I hit the proverbial wall.

To graduate to the next rank, we had to break an actual wooden board with your arms and one with a kick. These weren’t thin pieces of wood, either. I took Woodshop in sixth grade, and we made an entire box out of thinner pieces of wood than the ones we had to break in Tae-Kwon-Do. I highly doubt I could do that even today, when I’ve been lifting weights and do daily exercises. I tried again and again to break the boards, testing probably about seven or eight times, before calling it quits. When I think about this now, I just think about my potential, and what I could have been.

A Political Junkie

Based on the other content on my site, you probably have figured out by now that I’m very interested in politics, obviously being most familiar with political life in the United States. In fact, you could probably call me a “political junkie“, even though I don’t watch C-SPAN. However, I’ve never said how I got so interested in politics.

When I was in the fifth grade, my fifth grade teacher was really obsessed with history, especially anything having to do with the United States presidents or the government. She was so enthusiastic about this that she tended do spend an inordinate amount of time on it compared to other subjects, So, it was natural that, after a year, I would pick up on it. History led to an interest in current events and politics. Soon after, I began reading the newspaper to see current events, I watched the news on TV, and I read about political philosophies and how the U.S. government worked. I became more experienced with politics, and I soon began to form my own political opinions. It’s pretty easy to find out where you stand in the traditional left-right axis of politics; there are several online tests that can help you determine this.

Thankfully, in November 2016, when I was in eighth grade, Donald Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States. Luckily, this gave me a “reset”, and I could begin looking at a new administration with new people. I guess you could say that this became a pseudo-identity for me: I’m still extremely interested in politics and current events, and I read news articles daily. So, if you ever wanted to know how I became so interested in politics, it all started in fifth grade.
Fresh Fish

I have a lot of experience with fishing. For almost every summer of my life, I’ve gone fishing with my parents, brother, and paternal grandparents up in Mammoth Lakes, in northern California. My grandparents own a condo/vacation home up there, and every summer, around early July, we would make the eight-hour drive up to Mammoth both go on vacation and to visit my grandparents. From before I was born to 2014, we would head to Mammoth, but we missed three years, 2015-2017, because of various circumstances. It rained heavily up there in early July 2015, preventing us from going.  My parents’ 20th anniversary was in 2016, so we went to Hawaii instead, and my brother got sick in 2017. The point is, this year, when I was  fifteen years old, was the first year since 2014 that we went up there.

That meant that I had to relearn how to fish. I had learned it for the years leading up to 2014, but due to lack of practice, had forgotten how to do so after four years. Thankfully, fishing is very easy to learn. My grandfather handled all the harder parts, such as attaching the worm correctly and gutting the fish, so all I had to do was cast the line, watch the pole for a tug, and reel it in while someone else held the net. Luckily, I somewhat remembered how to fish, and it made the job slightly easier. The hardest part was actually catching the fish. After waiting for random amounts of time ranging from twenty minutes to an hour and a half, I would get a tug and reel the fish in, only to find that it was a smaller fish that needed to be thrown back. While that could be irritating, the whole experience was fun, and I was glad to finally be able to use my experience once more during last summer.
Moving Schools

The year was 2010. I was seven years old and about to begin second grade. My parents wanted to make a short move, from our old house to a new one about a mile away. While I didn’t want to leave my house, and I liked the neighbors, we weren’t moving far. The real problem was that I would have to change schools, from Moiola Elementary School to Courreges Elementary School to begin my second grade year. This wasn’t just because of the move; I could still have gone to Moiola, but my parents actually wanted me to attend Courreges. As you might expect, I didn’t want to leave any of my friends or the people I had known at school in the two years that I attended at Moiola.

From what I remember, I did not want to move at all. I remember fighting and yelling that I didn’t want to move, and that I didn’t want to leave my friends and the other people I knew. But, my parents wanted a bigger house, and for me to go to a school that they felt was better for me. Eventually, I came to accept this fact, and made the sacrifices of both moving to a different house and changing schools and leaving behind my old friends. After moving, I made new friends and met new people. The whole situation was somewhat dampened after Moiola closed down two years later. I made the sacrifice, which hurt back then, but I don’t regret it .

The Science Project

When I was in sixth grade, we had to do a science project, for a school-wide sixth grade science fair. It could be on any topic(meaning any field of science), but it had to be approved by the teacher first, and it had to be something that could be experimented and tested through the scientific method. For the two weeks following the project’s assignment, I could not think of a project topic that wouldn’t be rejected. So, I was forced to choose from a list of ideas my teacher had given me. I chose to do a project in which you would find out if planting different types of beans in a certain orientation in the ground would affect the height of the plants after three weeks, when it would mature. That project idea was accepted, and after doing background research, I chose four types of beans, gathered all my materials, and began the three week long experiment.

Fast forward three weeks, and I collected my data, put it all into charts, wrote my conclusions, made a poster board , and prepared my presentation. In early March 2015, I gave my presentation. My teacher loved it!  We were actually competing as a class period to be in the aforementioned school-wide science fair, and these class presentations were the “playoffs”. So, when the time came, I took first place. I had achieved success! This eventually led to the school-wide fair, and then the OC Science Fair, which was a fun experience, even though I didn’t win any awards. I guess the judges didn’t like beans. I achieved success, and it is something I will never forget.
Video Games

I’ve loved playing video games my entire life. The first real video game I ever played was the game Wizards101, which I discovered  from a commercial on TV. As you might have guessed, it was about creating a character that was a “wizard”, and battling NPCs (non-player characters) and other players in a virtual medieval world. Unfortunately, the game didn’t last long, because it was heavily restricted by paywalls and additional fees to access new content. I guess I should have expected this, given the fact that it was a free game. When I was in  second grade, I met some friends who introduced me to the games Club Penguin (which closed down early last year) and Animal Jam. During this time, I also became interested in Cartoon Network and their shows on TV, and I played games on their website.

As I grew older, I changed my interests in video games, and began to play more mature video games. Throughout my middle school years, I dabbled a bit in the Blizzard developed online game World of Warcraft as well as  Overwatch. During eighth and ninth grade, I played the mobile strategy game Clash Royale with some of my friends, which was a great social experience. When the video game Fortnite came out, I also began to play that  (I admit that I jumped on the bandwagon). Even now,  I’m also thinking of getting into  “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege” soon . I have always loved playing video games because of the social aspect of them, and for the vast majority of the games I’ve played , I’ve had friends who I knew that also played the game. I’ll probably still love playing video games for a long time in the future, too.

 

Political Blaze #1- The Senate Spectacle

Welcome to a new series on the blog, Political Blaze, where I’ll be covering just politics and the things that shape it. Today’s topic will be covering the recent success of the Trump administration through the Kavanaugh confirmation and the aftermath that followed.

For those who missed it, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by the United States Senate last Saturday by a vote of 50-48. He is now sitting on the Supreme Court, and heard his first arguments this week. At least to me, his confirmation felt like the refreshing end to a long, hard, and often turbulent journey. From the day Justice Anthony Kennedy announced that he would retire, to the day that Kavanaugh was officially announced by President Trump as his nominee to the Supreme Court, all the way to the final Senate vote and swearing-in, it felt like there was a sort of life-changing journey that came with it. I’m not just talking about the fact that Kavanaugh’s life will never be the same again due to the string of relentless uncorroborated accusations and the horrific attacks against his family and his personal name and honor. I’m also talking about how the public and senators responded to his attempts to defend himself. It was truly a journey, with many trials along the way.

The “journey” began on June 27, 2018. That day, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and known as the Court’s “swing vote”, announced that he would retire at the end of July, after over thirty years of service on the Supreme Court. After about two weeks of careful consideration, President Trump nominated Kavanaugh. Throughout the rest of the summer, Kavanaugh would begin meetings with senators, personally talking to about two-thirds of them by the time his hearings began. Having the people who would vote on the nomination learn more about the nominee and his views was of the utmost importance.

Over the summer, protestors and activists, primarily allied with the Democratic Party, tried to derail his nomination, which were unnecessary but not unexpected trials in the process. These same protestors had made it known that they would oppose Kavanaugh from the beginning, with Democratic Senator and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York saying from the beginning that he would fight the nomination. Keep in mind, this was all before any allegations of sexual misconduct arose. Senators like Schumer had no real reason to oppose Kavanaugh at this time.

The confirmation process took an unexpected turn for the worse in mid-September. Following Kavanaugh’s hearings in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee(in which he was relentlessly attacked and slandered by Democratic Senators), Sen. Dianne Feinstein of, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, came forward with a letter from a Palo Alto college professor and former high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s, a woman named Christine Blasey Ford. In the letter, written in early July when Kavanaugh had not yet been announced as the nominee, Ford stated that she had been sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh and one of his friends, a man named Mark Judge, at a high school party in 1982, 36 years ago. However, she could not remember many important details of the incident, such as the specific time, place, and situation that the incident occurred under. I remember that I did not believe the allegations, but wanted to give her a chance to give her story in front of a hearing.

Two other accusations emerged in the days following the release of Ford’s allegations: the accusations of Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick. These accusations were extremely circumspect, as they came only after Ford’s allegations, and because they came from less than reliable sources. Ramirez’s allegations were first reported by an article in the New Yorker, a less than reputable news source, and contained allegations that were completely unverifiable. They involved Kavanaugh allegedly “exposing himself” to Ramirez at a college party, around the same time as the Ford allegations. Meanwhile, Swetnick’s allegations were reported by Michael Avenatti, someone who I think is nothing but a glory hound and an anti-Trump “Resistance” leader. Also, if the accusations by Swetnick were true, and Avenatti had known about them for a good amount of time, then he should have reported them to the authorities, in order to help his client. Instead, he kept these questionable allegations to release at a certain time. As you might have guessed, I did not believe either new allegation.

The hearing took place on September 27, exactly three months after Kennedy had first announced his retirement. This was the first big climax, or defining moment, of the process. Ford gave a very emotional testimony that I might have found convincing, if not for her lack of corroborative evidence. I truly felt bad for her. Later that day, Brett Kavanaugh himself testified in a rebuttal of Ford. He seemed very emotional, passionate, and outraged all at the same time, and truly seemed to reach the high point of his confirmation when he denounced the accusations and unfair treatment given to him by certain senators, and defended his name and honor. I thought that Kavanaugh gave a powerful, rousing speech defending himself. However, it quickly became evident that not everyone loved his testimony. The vote on the nomination by the Judicial Committee took place soon after, and passed on a partisan vote of 11-10. The nomination process received a further setback soon after thanks to Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, a moderate senator who has publicly feuded with President Trump. Flake forced an FBI investigation into the allegations, which many Republicans were resisting.

Finally, after a week of investigations, the FBI reported that there was no corroboration of Ford’s claims or the claims of the other two women, Ramirez and Swetnick. On Saturday, October 6, the journey finally came to an end. At the final climax of the process, the Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, by a vote of 50-48. One Democratic senator, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted in favor of Kavanaugh, while one Republican senator, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted “present”. Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana was absent. With that, Kavanaugh was sworn in at a private ceremony later that day, and a public televised one on Sunday, October 7. This week, he took his seat on the Supreme Court and heard his first arguments, a week after the court’s 2018 term had begun. The long journey, which had begun over three months prior, had come to an end.

I believe that Kavanaugh was well qualified and fit to be on the Supreme Court, and I was glad that he was confirmed. I admit I might be a little biased, being a Republican supporter and a conservative, but I would still probably say that there was no corroborative evidence if a similar situation had arose involving the other side of the aisle. Hopefully, Brett Kavanaugh will be a great Supreme Court justice and make a difference in our nation.

 

The Crazy World We Live In

It’s no question that we live in a busy world. Everyday, weird, funny, horrifying, or interesting events occur throughout the world. Examples of these happen more frequently than you may think. For instance, just this month, several major stories dominated the news. In just September, Serena Williams cursed out the umpire at the final to the U.S. Open Woman Singles, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faced confirmation hearings and was accused of sexual misconduct, the Senate held hearings on bias against certain websites and viewpoints by Google, Facebook, and Twitter, and Hurricane Florence slammed into the Carolinas. Many of these stories happened in recent times, with major consequences as a result, and I’d like to give my views on them.

First off, we’ll go over the Serena Williams and the Hurricane Florence stories, the ones unrelated to politics. In my opinion, there is no question that Serena Williams was completely disrespectful and she got what she deserved: a hefty fine and a loss in the U.S. Open. Not only did she accuse the umpire, Carlos Ramos, of being a “thief”, which makes no sense at all, but she also attempted to make a wild claim of sexism on the part of the Ramos, and overshadowed the glory of beating one of the best players that her opponent, relative newcomer Naomi Osaka, should have received. Even if Osaka had been equal in skill or better than Williams, Williams should not have reacted in such a ridiculous manner. I feel like she showed unsporting behavior, and was penalized accordingly. The second story is about Hurricane Florence, which made landfall in the Carolinas in the early morning of September 14th. My prayers go out towards everyone affected by the hurricane, and I hope that you are all fine. I am glad that everyone was given advance notice so they could either evacuate the area or prepare adequately, which likely saved many lives.

In politics, one of the biggest stories was the hearings for the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in July. Personally, I believe that Kavanaugh is well qualified for a seat on the Supreme Court. However, the confirmation hearings, which were repeatedly interrupted by protestors, including by actress Piper Perabo, were completely derailed when accusations of sexual misconduct emerged. California Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that a professor from Palo Alto, California, a woman named Christine Blasey Ford, who was also a former high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland, wrote her a letter claiming that she was nearly raped by a drunk Kavanaugh. While I thought Kavanaugh was a good pick for the Supreme Court, and still do, I hope that the Senate will find out whether or not this incident actually happened. The final story we’ll go over is the allegations of bias against certain viewpoints by tech companies. The Senate held hearings on bias present in Google, Facebook, and Twitter, including processes known as shadow banning(as seen back in July) or having a double standard altogether(as seen from the Sarah Jeong-Candace Owens situation last month). I believe that shadow banning is wrong, and while tweets such as Candace Owens’s are wrong, she was trying to make a point of how Sarah Jeong must also be banned, which I agree with.

That wraps up this news post for this month, folks! We’ll see you again soon.