Category Archives: News

Trump vs. Streep

The Golden Globe Awards is a ceremony where the most esteemed actors and actresses are recognized for their work. This year Meryl Streep, a well known actress, was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award. While stepping onto the stage and quieting the crowd, Streep had a few things to say to our soon to be president, Donald Trump. She spoke of the comment Trump made when he imitated a mentally disabled reporter, and how she felt it was absolutely unacceptable. Although Streep’s speech wasn’t the longest ever given, many of the other people attending the ceremony were nearly in tears or gazing in awe.

When she went up to give her speech many things happened: she started out by saying how thankful she was for the award, she then moved on to name many actors, and actresses, then she listed where they were from, and explained that if we take out all the foreigners from Hollywood then we wouldn’t have anything entertaining, art filled, or even meaningful.

Streep then went on to say how we have let someone who is insensitive, and not speaking for the greater good, into our most cherished and honored seat of our country. She talked about how having our president elect making fun of disabled people makes Americans feel ashamed and hurt.

Meryl Streep was standing up for America, and then got dragged under the bus by that very same president elect for exercising her first amendment rights.

When he heard what Streep had to say about him, our president elect, Donald Trump, went to Twitter to share his opinions on the actress. He went on to call her a “Hillary flunky who lost big,” as well as “overrated.”

The Internet was enraged by his comments, with many pointing out how unprofessional it was. An international hashtag regarding the feud was started: #ThingsTrumpThinksAreOverrated. Many disagreed with his statement and went to Twitter to share their opinions. The tag was filled with tweets agreeing with Streep’s statement against Trump’s controversial and hateful comments.

Even though Streep had her supporters, there were still many people who agreed with Trump and defended the comments he made. For example, Tomi Lahren, an online video host for TheBlaze had multiple comments for Streep. Lahren called the people at the ceremony an “Overrated collection of liberals” and “Out of touch with the rest of America.” Many others along with Lahren sided with Trump and began to bash Streep.

Whatever your views are, we hope we can all get along under the new president.

Dealing with the cold

Minnesota is having one of the coldest winters of any state in the U.S. This means residents from all over the state have to prepare to face the cold in order to get wherever they are going. Students are especially affected by the cold because they have to commute to and from school every week-day. We asked students of Highland Park Senior High how they deal with the cold inside or outside.

A common response from students was to wear lots of layers. Ranging from jackets, sweatshirts, and blankets students said they wore whatever they could to stay warm traveling to and from school.

At home, some students said that the best cure for the cold was a warm blanket and a hot beverage. One student said, “I deal with the cold by bundling up, then I go home to drink hot chocolate, or tea, then watch a movie occasionally.”

Some students were pros when it came to the cold, and didn’t feel like it was something to deal with. “ The school is warm, so I don’t worry about the cold before I go to school,” one student said. “ I don’t wimp out, and go outside without fear,” another student exclaimed. Cold doesn’t seem to bother these people which is a trait most wish they could have.

Some students, however, simply are not coping with the cold at all. Despite living in Minnesota, some people just do not get along well with frigid weather. One 10th grader said, “I don’t deal with the cold. I get frostbite.” Another senior student said, “I just look forward to getting back indoors.” It seems some of us Minnesotans can barely make it through each winter alive and well.

So far, this winter has been very cold, and there has been quite a lot of time with temps below zero. But, we are looking towards a warmer few weeks coming up, and spring is coming right around the corner.

The life of John Glenn

With John Glenn’s passing in 2016, everyone should look back at what he did for us while he was alive. He lived a life of many achievements, and is an inspiration for many.

John Glenn was a man of many talents. He was born on July 18, 1921, in Columbus, Ohio. He was first in public eye in World War II, where he was a successful fighter pilot. He continued his success into the Korean war as well. However, that is not all he’s famous for. He was selected as one of the “Mercury Seven” which was a group of pilots selected by NASA in 1959 to train to orbit the Earth. In 1962 he became the 5th person to ever be in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth. Not only that, but he was also a U.S. Senator. He won a seat in the 1974 election, and continued to serve for 24 years. In 1998, he became the oldest person to fly in space at 77 years of age.

John Glenn lived a life full of achievements. He’s won over 20 various awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in 2012. Other recipients of this award include Ronald Reagan and Stephen Hawking. He was an inspiration to future engineers, astronauts, and politicians alike.

He recently passed on December 8, 2016, in his home town of Columbus, Ohio. But even though he died, that doesn’t mean he will be forgotten. He will be remembered as an engineer, astronaut, and senator and on top of that an all round good person.

Taiwan’s call to Trump

Recently, President elect, Donald J. Trump received a congratulatory phone call from

President Tsai of Taiwan, alarming all political and international relation experts. But why? For decades, countries like the United States have had a complex and shaky relationship with China, a.k.a. the People’s Republic of China, and Taiwan, now recognized as the Republic of China.

Back in 1927, a civil war broke out in the republic of China, making it a communist country. Nationalist leaders fled to Taiwan. Now, Both Taiwan and China believe to have control over the mainland. Taiwan perceives the Chinese mainland as a country ruled by communist rebels, and China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, not their own country. Since 1979, the United States have exclusively recognized Beijing, the capital of China, ultimately cutting all ties with Taiwan.

China had issued a “one China” policy, forcing all foreign countries to choose between recognizing Beijing, or Taiwan as the representative for the entire republic. Most every foreign country has chosen to recognize Beijing, the ruler of the world’s second largest economy.

However, relations between the territories and the United States have been shaky. In 1995, Washington was put under intense scrutiny for granting the President of Taiwan a visa to the United States. Beijing saw this as a threatening move, a possible step forward in recognition of Taiwan, weakening their power and control in the world. In response, China fired missiles to Taiwan. In response to the missiles, the United States placed two aircraft carrier groups nearby. This settled the dispute, but reminded the United States how sensitive the relationship between China and Taiwan really is.

This recently accepted phone call by Donald Trump is no different. By accepting the phone call from Taiwanese President, President Tsai, the president elect has communicated recognition of Taiwan as an independent nation.

This provokes two possible outcomes, ignoring American policy, possibly ending the decades long peaceful relationship, or observing Taiwanese independence, inevitably provoking war.

However, like many of the unconventional, and possibly “wrong” things President elect Donald Trump has done in the past year, he is given an excuse, granting him the benefit of the doubt. Both China and Taiwan have chosen to observe the future president’s action as a mistake, rather than a policy shift.

Trump protests

This year has been a significant year. The United Kingdom left the European Union. Celebrities like Alan Rickman died. And then we had the political chaos of our election. Against all odds, Donald Trump was elected president.

This obviously sparked some outrage. Protests have been going on across the nation, with several here in Minnesota, such as the protests on I-94.

In Minneapolis, on Thursday November 11th, 2016, hundreds of anti-Trump protesters marched down Interstate 94. They managed to close it for more than two hours. Police stopped them from marching any further into Minneapolis. It was organized by a Facebook group called Socialist Alternative Minnesota.

Previous protests, like the one on Wednesday the 10th, were mostly peaceful, with the only bad thing caused by it being loud noises, probably hindering people’s sleep. 100 people were arrested.

Recent hate crimes

Since Tuesday, November 8, 2016 the amount of hate crimes and many other types of discrimination have gone up rapidly.

The amount of threats, vandalism and harassment that we have seen all over the news and social media are much more than what we saw after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 according to experts. Although some of these hate crimes that we see on social media are not all true, there are still many that have been happening in our country.

Many of these hate crimes, and threats, have been towards Muslims, African-Americans, Mexicans and the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community. Obviously, they are not the only groups that have been attacked, but these are the groups that have been attacked the most. For example, in Ohio, a black male was beaten by two white males just because he was an African-American.

While browsing the web I came across an image that was very disturbing. On a wall, in an alley, there was the words “Black lives don’t matter” spray painted on it.

There was also a case in New York where a white male banged on the door and window of a Muslim woman’s car, with her children and grandpa in the car. Also in New York, two men threw rocks at a young male because he “looked gay.”

As a country we all need to stick up for one another instead of putting each other down. Now more than ever.

Trump mural is painted over

Note: for this article we did a follow up on our previous Trump interview.

We conducted the exact same survey, we gave in the fall, about Donald Trump, except with one additional question. We wanted to see how people would react to the Trump mural after it was covered in spray paint, and how they feel about him post election. Answers ranged from strong political responses, to simply not caring at all. Every survey was anonymous and distributed to a large diverse group of students. The overall reason for this survey was to obtain a better understanding of how students feel at Highland Park Senior High.

We prompted our census takers (students aged 14-18), with the question regarding how they felt about Donald Trump and his election as president, and the responses were nearly identical across the board. The following are some that summed up the views of the census, but explained their thoughts rather than just “yuck” or “ew.”

“I hate him. He’s an egotistical, racist, sexist, homophobic, and Islamophobic moron who pretty much personifies everything wrong with America.”

“I think he is a horrible person. He is sexist, racist, and definitely not a person who should be leading anything, much less our country.”

“Considering my hispanic background and my identity in general, I fear a Trump presidency.”

“The very thought of him as president makes me sick.”

Following the question regarding their viewpoints on Donald Trump we asked if the painting on the third floor evoked any emotion from them. There was more variation in their answers to this question. Some students were neutral to the painting, as there was no ill intention behind it, while others were angered by the concept of such a controversial figure.

“It represents something different than when it was painted but it still makes me uncomfortable.”

“I dislike it but the artist did not have poor intentions.”

“If it makes people feel uncomfortable or unsafe it should be removed.”

“I feel very disgusted that a painting of him is on our third floor. A person like him should not be painted in our school as if it praises him.”

“I am not a fan, but I don’t think you should be able to restrict people from painting what they want.”

Recently the painting had been painted over with black paint, and though it is not known who the culprit is, many students have voiced their opinions on whether they agree with the individual or not. Out of our census the majority thought that even though they don’t like Trump, art shouldn’t be censored. Others believe that there should be something less controversial in that space.

“It doesn’t seem appropriate anymore. There is nothing wrong in painting over something that makes people feel unsafe or uncomfortable, especially in a school environment.”

“Although it would be considered vandalism to paint over someone else’s art work, in this case it makes me feel safer. I don’t feel comfortable with a picture of a disgusting man in our school.”

“He hasn’t acted on any of the terrible things he said, so there is no reason to censor it.”

“I understand they were trying to make a statement, and I appreciate that, but vandalism is illegal.”

We felt that it was necessary to do a follow up on our first Trump mural article because we wanted to give our Highland Park community a voice. We also wanted to see if their opinions changed since the mural’s vandalization occurred. We got an array of answers but not one that was pro Trump, which did not surprise us whatsoever.  

All in all, this article was done as a piece that not only Alandra, Michelle and Jane wrote, but also our peers from Highland.

Election: After the results

These past few weeks have been such an emotional roller coaster. The anticipation and stress put upon ourselves just to see whose next to become the 45th president of the U.S. With some being overjoyed with the results, others are disgusted and confused by the fact that Trump is the next to become the President. I asked a few people about their reactions on the topic and here’s what they had to say:

“It’s disgusting to see a man like him elected.”

“Well, I guess America showed its true colors.”

“No one has any common sense nowadays.”

“It’s ridiculous how a business cooperate could actually become a presidential candidate without any experience whatsoever. Just shows really ANYONE can run for president.”

“I like him as an elect. I mean good for him; he seems fit for the role.”

“He speaks his mind he has no filter I think that’s what we need in a president.”

“Why would such people vote for a child as president?”

“Well, we were either gonna be (expletive) or extra (expletive) I just thought we would be just plain (expletive).”

“He’s trying to take control and take back our jobs.”

“Why would people vote for a man like him anyways? He mocked an entire race just because one person who just happened to be that certain race did. That’s wrong on so many levels.”

“He doesn’t seem to think about the consequences or anything about people’s families at all.”

“If his wife is an immigrant shouldn’t she get deported too?”

“Its heartbreaking… that’s all.”

“Trump is a disgrace. He disgraced the name ‘land of the free’.”

“Make America Great Again!”

In the end, our nation has been divided. We’ll just have to see how the next four years end up to be.

Climate change

Throughout history, the world’s climate has progressively changed. According to NASA, the earth has gone through seven cycles of glacial advancement and retreatment within the last 650,000 years. The cyclical event abruptly ended at the end of the last age, some 7,000 years ago, acting as a starting point for not only the modern climate era, but also of human civilization.

Satellites and other modern technologies are orbiting earth, and recording visual data regarding the world’s climate that enables scientists to observe the planet in a larger, holistic scale. Scientists have stated they’ve observed signals of climate change.

To further strengthen their hypothesis, scientists have drawn ice cores from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers to show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. These ice cores also show that in the past, large changes in climate have happened very quickly. According to these studies, scientists have concluded that, geologically-speaking, the climate changes we are experiencing now, have happened in tens of years, not in millions or even thousands, but within the last decade.Satellite observations reveal that the amount of spring snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and that the snow is melting earlier in the year.

Much of the earth’s heat has been absorbed by the oceans. The top 700 meters, about 2,300 feet, of ocean have grown warmer by 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since the year 1969.

In response to the warming oceans, NASA’s Gravity and Recovery Climate Experiment show Greenland has lost as much as 60 cubic miles of ice per year between 2002 and 2006, and Antarctica has lost 36 cubic miles of ice between 2002 and 2005. In 2006, the AAAS, American Association for the Advancement of Science, reported, “The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society.”

Oceans also act as a sponge for carbon dioxide. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, 1712, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by 30 percent. This increase is the result of humans emitting significant doses of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, hence more carbon dioxide being absorbed into the oceans. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is rapidly increasing. The ocean is absorbing about 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year. The American Chemical Society stated in 2004, “Comprehensive scientific assessments of our current and potential future climates clearly indicate that climate change is real, largely attributable to emissions from human activities, and potentially a very serious problem.”

According to whitehouse.gov,  “The United States is leading global efforts to address the threat of climate change. Since 2005, the United States has reduced its total carbon pollution more than any other nation on Earth. Wind power has tripled, and energy from the sun has increased tenfold. President Obama has taken a series of common-sense steps to curb carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases through initiatives that drive energy efficiency, promote clean energy, and put in place the first-ever carbon pollution standards for power plants.” However, this progress may be halted or regressed due to president elect Donald Trump’s views and future actions on climate change, such as dismantling the Paris agreement, which is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance starting in the year 2020.

Despite all the physical and scitenfic evidence of global climate change, 46% of the worlds population don’t believe global climate change is occurring. However, when given this evidence by NASA, and observing the visuals of the worlds climate, I find it hard to believe that anybody can believe current global climate change can be a hoax. According to pew research.org, “A global median of 51% say climate change is already harming people around the world, while another 28% believe it will do so in the next few years.”

Let’s not let our arrogance harm our neighbors and wild species that rely on the ocean, and other natural lands. Let’s combat this progressive regression of natural land masses and animals. To do so, we can use less energy; install a solar panel, turn the lights for other technologies off when they don’t have to be used, use energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs, recycle, reduce waste, etc. In a world of consumers, we’re not only consuming goods and products, but also the natural world around us.

Dakota Pipeline protest

About an hour south of Bismarck, North Dakota, protests against the production of a new oil pipeline through Native tribal land is being countered. Self-proclaimed “water protectors,” and supporters of the Standing Rock Tribe, have set up camp on the land that was acquitted to the tribe under a 19th-century treaty. Accompanying the the supporters on this land are police officers, decked out in riot gear, that have arrested a total of 117 protesters in the quiet state of North Dakota.

A month ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers applied for permits that would grant them access to install a pipeline across the Missouri River, which the Standing Rock Tribe stated to be a “high risk that culturally and historically significant sites will be damaged or destroyed.” They were also concerned about possible damage to the supply of drinking water.

According to the Huffington Post,  “The tribe asked for a temporary injunction against construction.” However, in early September, a federal judge denied the injunction, and ordered the construction to proceed.

This ruling sparked an outrage amongst tribal land conservationists, beginning a long protest. Now the protesters are requesting the entire construction of the $3.8 billion pipeline be stopped, and placed on a different route, rather than the original route, spanning from North Dakota to Illinois, carrying 500,00 barrels of crude oil a day.

Due to a significant number of pipeline-related incidents in recent years, the people living on this land are apprehensive about another pipeline being built on their sacred ground. Doug Hayes, a staff attorney at the Sierra Club told the Huffington Post, “These pipelines are often seeping or leaking in small places, and we don’t have any way to detect them. These are the types of concerns the tribes have, and they’re, frankly, very well-founded.”

As of Friday, November 4th, the U.S. department of Justice, the Department of the Army, and the Department of the Interior announced a “voluntary pause” on all construction within 20 miles of Lake Oahe, a lake the pipeline would be built under.

The joint statement from the departments states, “The Army will not authorize constructing the Dakota Access pipeline on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the Lake Oahe site under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other federal laws…In the interim, we request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe.”

As of this writing, there is still a protest going on. Even though the government has issued the injunction around Lake Oahe, they have still not agreed to meet tribal demands.