The great depression

Emily's post

The great depression was a time of stress, sadness, confusion, loss, yet so many people found joy in the smallest of things. no house, no food, some money, and a few friends and you can be happy through the days. Today, I feel like this wouldn't be the same. People would be able to use social media to induce fear, and make things worse than they were. Homelessness would get worse, family's fall apart, drug use more, with Donald trump in charge I don't want to know what could happen. People might form gangs and clans and raid homes, stores, it would be chaos. Some might be able to find the good in life but we are going downhill by the second these days, i don't want that to get worse.

The in class simulation

Emily's post

In class, we did a simulation where we were all different groups. group 1, 2, 3, 4.....etc. Our  main goal was to gain 'world' peace. Or classroom peace. a lot of people had a hard time doing this because of popularity or misunderstandings, so instead of all of us learning to work together, we ended up all turning against one group. My group. We did nothing to the group who decided to hate on us, and they decided to take us out. They formed alliances, and then went to war with us. In the end, peace treaties were broken and no one could trust each other. because of this we lost the idea of total peace in the fog of hatred.                                                          

Election

    Emily's post
When i think of the 2016 election, I think of Donald trump, and when i think of Donald trump, I think of the end of America. When the election started, I thought that Donald trump was a joke and could never win. when he started to get ahead, i was worried but i didn't think that anyone with a decent heart could vote for him. then i saw the odds and was prepared for the end. then i saw the truth. A lot of trump supporters just don't like the system, and they don't like Donald trump, and the only way to mess with the system was to throw him at it. A lot of supporters were decent people who just didn't like the way things were going and would rather see trump rule over everything than to see 4 more years of the same thing.

Muckraking "Homelessness"

Today the rise of people becoming homeless is huge. Today with such high cost for living many people live homeless and without jobs. This generally stems from mental health issues, drugs, etc.  Today many people have started organizations that help those who struggle to maintain a healthy life style.  Sadly the government has not taken any steps to help this problem.  Instead in San Francisco they have passed an act that would allow police to give homeless people a 24 hour notice to pickup there tent and leave.  This is doing nothing! It is only forcing the homeless to move around with nowhere in the end to go. There are many great programs today that make it very easy to help such as LifeMoves, HomeFirst, etc.  Just remember that "Homeless people are not the problem, they are the result of the problem".

Muckracking "Obesity"

Today there was a presentation on obesity in the United States and I contained a lot of valuable information. First we are the 7th most obese country in the World. That is really sad. In our area obesity is cause by advertising the cheapest food. But mostly the cost of living and life style. To work and have a family in Silicon Valley cost a large amount of money.  So many family's who are not as wealthy struggle to afford food often having to give into poor nutrition eating at many unhealthy locations. Another reason people give into bad eating habits is when they don have enough time to prepare themselves something beneficial for the body. In the end it is important to treat your body the best you can or you can risk having poor health issues in the future.

"Sacco and Vanzetti"

After hearing about this trial for the first time, I had very mixed emotions. I personally can not determine if Sacco and Vanzetti were both guilty or innocent. There was lots of evidence that supported both the defense and prosecution. From the classroom document, we were able to chart out the evidence for both sides. Although in my document I had almost double the evidence to prove that they were guilty, I am still not 100 percent sure that they were. I believe that in this case, the evidence should have depended on quality versus quantity. The evidence to prove them guilty was solely based off the fact that they were Anarchists, and from in class discussions we know that Anarchists were hated at the time. The prosecution did have hard cold evidence to prove guilt in them. The defense did indeed have evidence to counter the prosecution but it was never really appreciated as the majority of the jury was prejudice towards Sacco and Vanzetti. This leads me to my next idea which is that the trial itself was not fair. The majority of the jury was anti-Anarchist. From the documentary that we watched, we learned that the jury took only a few hours to deliberate and come up with the verdict. As we know, they were found guilty and sentenced to execution. This trial was one of the most controversial trials in history. The fact that the jury took only a few hours to decided these two men's faith is very suspicious. I believe that this was a trial against proving Anarchists guilty, rather than proving these men guilty of a crime that they may have not committed. This trial reminds me of the God in America trial. Both of these trials got side tracked and did not focus on their actual case. Although I can not determine if they were indeed guilty or not, I still believe that the correctional and justice system did not do its job properly.

Muckraking Reflection

The Muckraking assignment was a very long yet interesting process. Erik and I investigated the flaws within the justice system and police departments. Prior to our topic selection, we had very clear and bias ideas about these subjects. After listening to several different viewpoints, motivating interviews, and evidence from both sides, we came to a final decision. The research process really helped in allowing us to understand more about the subject. As said, we had very bias ideas with little to none evidence to support it. As "muckrakers", we were able to not only incorporate our personal beliefs, but also the opposing beliefs. We started our research by answering the prep questions on the Muckraking document, then we decided to start the real research with online articles. For the interviews, we wanted to have the actual face to face experience so we knocked on several doors asking residents if we could interview them with a few questions. The people we interviewed varied in age, sex, race, and location. We then wanted to compare the several ideas that we received from these people and see if their beliefs aligned with anything that we found from the online research. When we were coming up with our thesis, we were not sure if we wanted to focus mainly on racism and prejudice, so we ended up broadening our thesis to cover more ground. The layout of our article did not have a certain order. The images that we put in our article were selected with ideas that corresponded to what we wrote. The charts the we inserted gave our article more factual support. Overall, I feel that the article we made represented our ideals pretty well. We had some struggles at first but we were able to get past them and come up with a bright article. Actually, we were planning on making a documentary until we realized that the article option would be easier to get our point across. The article allows for us to show more of our research skills. The "solution" that we came up with was reasonable and achievable. We were both a bit skeptical about writing about racism because honestly there is no real solution to racism. However, we came up with ways to ease the issue and indirectly solve flaws. The justice system has never changed and we knew that, so coming up with a solution for that was pretty difficult. In the end, our experience was great and we hope that our idea spreads to others.

Muckraking Project

For this project my partner and I decided to research about children under the age of 18 working more than the legal rights allowed. When we first chose the project we thought it was going to be quite hard because usually every place is required a work permit and they were strict about the laws. But we did have a teen that never was asked for a permit to work and students that worked over. We researched about the legal number of hours you are allowed to work during the school year on weekdays and weekends. According to the California Child Labor Laws, if you are 16 years old you are allowed to work 4 hours on weekdays and 8 hours on the weekends. If you are 15 years old you are allowed to work 3 hours on weekdays and 8 hours on the weekends. This was a huge surprise because some of my friends work over that. One of my friends had to work a double shift which then she work 8 hours one day during the week. She started work at 3:15pm and ended at 10:30pm. Talking to most of our friends, they said that the problem they have about this is was not that the work paid wasn't good, it was more because they weren't being able to have a social life outside of work. We could see that this was definitely something that they other employees either don't care because they are getting paid enough money or there is no way to change it. The mangers of the stores are working the teens under the age of 18 to much and it's not okay that they don't care about it. Something that was surprising to me was that it was just a certain store that was doing this but there are stores all over the bay area that do this to teens. It isn't fair to them because they aren't being able to have a life outside of school nor work.

Obama Care, Is it good or bad

As our 44th President's term is about to end, he leaves with him a legacy that we will remember. Obama is most known for killing Osama Bin Laden and his Obama Care act. His Obama care may be his "greatest" achievement. But was it really good or bad? The Pros of it are that it must fix our health care act without increasing the deficit, it generates billions for medicare, there will be more medical visits, and millions of people will have access to primary health care. The cons include health care being more costly than before, it increases the budget deficit, seniors will have worse access to medicare, people lose their private insurance policies, there are projected shortfalls in primary care, and there are loopholes. What do you think? Do the pros outweigh the cons or the cons outweigh the pros?

The Great Depression what acts will help prevent a future crisis.

The Great Depression was a tragic event that we all hope something like that will never happen again. However, as history shows, it repeats itself. However, after we did a few things to help prevent another depression. These included Federal Securities act, the Banking Act of 1933, Public Utilities Holding act, and social security act. Even though we did this, there was was still a great recession, yet it was not nearly as bad as the great depression. Even though these small bumps in the road are sure to happen, do you think we can prevent one as tragic as the great depression from happening again?

Interviewing people for the muckraking project

Like all the other groups, we interviewed several people for our project. Since our topic was sensitive (drug use), all the interviews had to be anonymous. However, when interviewing a member of the faculty, I forgot to mention this until halfway through the interview, when they answered a question with "overall, on record, it’s just not a good idea." At that point I asked them if they preferred to be anonymous and of course they agreed, though they did say that their answers were the same.

After analyzing the interview for the project, I noticed that there were a few inconsistencies. For example, they said that using marijuana at all was just not a good idea because of the damage it causes to the brain. However, when asked what they thought about it being for medical purposes, they said that it could be effective, and perhaps even be prescribed instead of classic medication alongside therapy.

Their overall stance on the issue was the same (teenagers should not use marijuana recreationally), but they gave conflicting reasons. To me, it seems like they started the interview answering the questions like the administration would expect them to. After all, there are negative consequences for encouraging students to use drugs. So their behavior was totally reasonable and to be expected. However, it does mean that the answers we got may have not been entirely accurate, representing the stereotypical, safe opinion (marijuana is bad for your brain, don't do drugs) rather than the possibly different opinion that the interviewee had himself.

Marijuana vs Alcohol: which is worse?

Marijuana and alcohol are the most commonly used drugs by teenagers. Rather than arguing why there are both bad, I think it would be interesting to see which one is worse.

Alcohol kills millions of people each year, whether it be due to alcohol poisoning or alcohol-induced accidents. Marijuana, on the other hand, is effectively impossible to overdose on, meaning it leads to very few deaths.

Drinking alcohol as a teenager increases the likelihood of alcoholism as an adult. For marijuana, this is not the case. However, at that age, when the brain has not totally developed, marijuana can cause more permanent damage.

Driving high is generally considered better than driving drunk. This is because marijuana tends to allow for more focus, while alcohol makes people clumsy and hurts reaction times. That said, neither are safe for anyone on the road.

Acquiring alcohol is significantly easier than marijuana. Most families have alcohol at home, while teenagers have to approach drug dealers to get their hands on marijuana.

When interviewing a member of the LAHS faculty for our muckraking project, we snuck in a question about this. Their response was "I think they’re both pretty bad, but you’re probably safer with marijuana. So, I would put a vote for marijuana over alcohol. I think it should be harder to access alcohol. Alcohol strikes me as more dangerous for a lot of reasons. For example, I would be much more comfortable with teenagers driving around high rather than drunk. I think parents would feel the same."

So, with all this taken into account, it seems as though alcohol is worse of a drug than marijuana. This begs the question: why is alcohol legal and so easy to access, but marijuana isn't?

On The Topic of Homelessness

It's interesting that there is such a high percentage of homeless people in the Santa Clara County. I wouldn't say I have seen it much myself, but that's most likely due to the fact that there is not a high percentage of homeless people in Los Altos specifically.

If there were a general solution to the problem, I'm sure it would have been implemented already. The truth is, homelessness seems to be an accepted part of our society, and that's why people generally fail to act on it. Most people are used to seeing homeless people around, so that's why it doesn't seem to be an issue to them.

Not to say there aren't awareness acts happening around us. It is just an issue that is not displayed as being very prominent like other issues, at least not in our area.

What do you guys think? Have you heard as much about the issue of homelessness as you have heard about other issues like the drought situation or pollution?

Our Muckracking Project Summary

Our creation for the Muckracking project was a documentary which highlighted causes of pollution, specifically causes of high CO2 emissions throughout the country. With research, we found that transportation, specifically cars, were a huge contribution towards CO2 emissions. However, they have never taken the lead over factories. 

Since 1850, there has been a constant rise in CO2 emissions in the United States. This is due to the fact that global industrialization became prominent during this time period with the Industrial Revolutions of the world. 

Now, factories are still in the lead. Cars are runner-up, but still contribute a huge amount to CO2 pollution. Our solution was to replace gas vehicles with electric cars, as emissions would lessen significantly. 

what I learned form Courtney and Natalie

When Courtney and Natalie presented their presentation on overworking teenagers I was really surprised by how little hours you can do on a regular school day. I really wasn't aware of any of the laws that are for teenagers working during school. Back home in Connecticut, we had laws, but still, I wasn't informed about them. I think these laws really benefit teenagers, but if you really want to work a lot and make money, it makes it difficult for you to make the amount you want in a week. Overall I am thankful for them informing us of these laws again. 

Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is an anti-imigrant group, it was re born in 1915. They targeted African americans, immigrants, jews, catholics, and anyone with values that Klan members saw as "un-American." In the early 1920's, the klan increased 3 to 4 million members. They started to get political power. They all did everything secretly, at night time, and wearing hoodies so no one could know who they are. This relates to today because we now have Trump and the Ku Klux Klan supports him. They drove through North Carolina town to show their support for Trump. When this happened two men were arrested because they were stabbing people during the KKK meeting.

The real reason why we have summer vacation.

The story behind why we have summer vacation is that in the 19th-century kids had to help their parents work on the farm during the summers. This is far from true because during the spring time was when most kids would have to help their family collect crops and work on the farm. The real reason why kids got summer off was because school classrooms at that time of the year would get sweltering hot causing wealthy parents, teachers and students to complain. The school system decided that therefore the best time of the year would be a summer break. Also, the teachers need a section of time to train before a new school year.

Ponzi Scheme

The Ponzi scheme is still going on today. It got it's name from Charles Ponzi, it is basically a plan for you to get rich quickly. The process of this is, you 'think' you are investing your money but really the person is collecting money from new investors and paying early investors back with that money. There is really no investment or return on money. Seeing the early investors double their money makes other people want to invest their money also. The most famous Ponzi scheme is Bernie Madoff, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison from doing this. He was sentenced so much time because he defrauded people 65 billion dollars. This is a very common scheme, it was found around 1919.

What I learned from my project

I learned a lot about our community through my muckraking project, more than I thought I would. I was able to gather information through different people and get a better understanding about a topic that was ultimately important to me. 

My project was about obesity in our area and something that is surprising to me is that the obesity levels are relatively low in Mountain View and Los Altos, compared to the rest of the US. That isn't saying much though because the US is 7th out of all countries in having the most obesity.

What might be a reason for this? According to some research, I did it has to do with the ‘American Environment’ which includes an ‘in-the-car, behind-the-desk society’ meaning that not many people get an adamant amount of exercise. When we are in the car, there are billboards telling us about fast food and when we are at our desk ads pop up on the computer trying to convince us to purchase the unhealthy product. Buying food is easier than ever now because you can buy it from a gas station, which are conveniently placed near highways. Lastly, the ‘American Environment’ has created a new phenomenon called ‘portion distortion’ which is simply increasing the portion sizes to larger amounts, making becoming obese even more tangible (Nation HLB Institute).

My partner and I also found that most people who are obese are low income families, due to availability of fodd.

Hardships During Great Depression

The Great Depression has been labeled by many as the worst US economic downfall in history. Many citizens faced hardships ranging from suicide to having no money. Some US citizens had all their money in the stock market at the time of the Great Depression which caused so much stress as they had no more money left. This caused a few to commit suicide to end the amount of stress and hardship they were facing. Another issue was US veterans and their bonus. US veterans were guaranteed a bonus when they fought during the war but since that money was in the stock market and banks, no one could receive it. This group of veterans were called the Bonus Army who demanded their money from the government. One of the most widespread problems during the Great Depression was the state of business in the US. Most business owners lost money since they had money in the stock market but the worst came from citizens not buying many goods. Before the Great Depression people were able to afford all the necessities and more while at stores, now people were only able to afford the bare minimum. This caused most sole businesses to be put closed. Lastly and one of the most widespread issues was the state of the banks. Over 800 banks failed and 9 million savings accounts were closed which caused massive heartache.

Muckraking Project

Our project is based on marijuana usage around teenagers. We're also describing different health benefits of marijuana, whether they're good or bad. Certain health features that are beneficial is treating young children who have autism or ADHD. Most of these children use edibles to avoid inhaling smoke. Although it isn't scientifically known yet whether marijuana extracts help these children, parents have become more vocal with the fact that marijuana helps their autistic kids function better and ADHD kids pay more attention. The harmful health use of marijuana comes from inhaling the smoke. While it is significantly healthier than cigarettes that have many added chemicals, you're still inhaling a foreign substance in to your lungs. To narrow our subject down from just a broad phrase of marijuana usage around teenagers, we decided on it being a gateway drug. Most people assume a gateway drug is a drug that you get addicted to which makes you crave more or other drugs that are far more harsh. While it has been scientifically proven that marijuana isn't a habit addicting drug, where you buy your marijuana from may vary. Since no teenagers are able to purchase marijuana legally they have to buy from a "dealer" which could cause further drug usage. Some dealers aren't just selling marijuana but also have other drugs such as adderall, heroine, meth and much more. So, while marijuana isn't socially described as a gateway drug, it can still lead to usage with other harder drugs due to the fact that teenagers aren't buying it legally and buying it from a dealer.

Bicycles for Women?

Have you ever been shopping for a new bike, as one does as one grows bigger and no longer fits on their child-size bike? Perhaps you noticed that they would say women's bikes and men's bikes and you thought there's a difference? Yes, in fact, there is. The difference is in the shape of the bike.

Women's Bike

Men's Bike

The women's bike has a dip in the middle that allowed women who rode with skirts to ride the bikes. Men's bikes did not have this place for skirts. Bloomers changed all that.

Bloomers were women's pants that were baggy so they could look like skirts but had a split in them to allow more movement. The invention of bicycles liberated women of the 1890s during the bicycle craze. They had more freedom than ever because they could travel where they wanted when they wanted. Susan B. Anthony, a leader of the suffragist movement said, "I think [bicycling] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood" Many women were able to get more freedom from the use of a bicycle. 

It is interesting to think that everyday objects that we use can change freedoms and ways of life. What are some examples of other inventions that had an impact larger than you would think?

The Gold Rush Pollution

For the Muckraking Assignment, my group is researching water pollution in the Bay Area. One of the questions we asked our interviewees is if there were any particular times in California when water pollution was especially bad. An interesting point that we learned was that the real start of water pollution in this area--while it has always been here since the beginning of the city--was during the Gold Rush.

Mercury is a poisonous chemical that can infiltrate bodies of water, causing immense damage to all around it. It is one of the main polluters of the San Francisco Bay. The modern day source of mercury pollution is from people throwing out broken thermometers or other substances improperly, instead of disposing of them at a facility. But during the Gold Rush, the mining that took place left tons upon tons of contaminated sediments near rivers. According to Michael Singer, a geologist and hydrologist, "There is enough metal downriver and in the sediment to significantly add to levels of the heavy metal downriver and in the San Francisco Bay for the next 10,000 years."

Mercury can be converted to methlymercury by microbes, which is the organic form of the heavy metal. This can accumulate in animals, and when larger animals eat lots of smaller ones, mercury can become concentrated in living creatures. This causes a real danger to the wildlife around the Bay.

Gold Rush miners sought to expose gold metal by using high-pressure water cannons, then run it through "sluice boxes" which included adding mercury to bind to gold. This large quantities of metal found it's way downstream, and now in California's Central Valley, the area was tainted.

It is interesting how something that happened almost two centuries ago can affect our current condition so drastically. What is another historical incident that is now some kind of a problem for us today?

Unfairness of this election system

Even though Hillary won the popular vote she didn't become president as all you know. I believe that is wrong. Instead of having states have x amount of electoral votes we should have just votes for each state.

Sacco and Vanzetti was the justice system corrupt?

Whether Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty or innocent is a case that remains a mystery. Historians argue both sides, but neither side has any facts that prove anything. Just raise questions. However, the jury that convicted them guilty was pretty confident that they did the crime. This is because I believe they were under the influence of a corrupt justice system. The justice system did not function properly in this case study because of several reasons. For one, the jury was already against Sacco and Vanzetti before the trial even began. Second, the prosecutor lied about the revolver one of them had was stolen from one of the guards. Third, the police hid that the cartridges that they found were not the same as the ones they had. But that is only my opinion. What do you think? Do you think that the justice system was indeed corrupt and that they would've been innocent if it wasn't corrupt? Or do you think otherwise?

Election 2016

This years election was definitely an election that was different from our past years. This year the two candidates were probably the most hated and they both weren't the best. They both had flaws that change the way others thought of different people. Trump was hated because of his racial views and ideas towards others. He also didn't have an experience of political views. Clinton was hated because he views and how she changed them to get more viewers. She did have some political experience but still wasn't the best candidate. I didn't chose a side because really they both had bad flaws and neither of them should have been a candidate for the 2016 election. I was talking with my friend she brought up the idea of we should have just cancelled both of them and kept Obama as the president right now and had chosen new candidates for the election even though it really isn't allowed. This might have changed peoples views and we might have had a clearer view on the election.

The Dust Bowl

The drought that happened during the Great Depression was already bad, but it was made worse by farming techniques farmers had used for the last decade. They were making a lot of food, so they were stripping all of the natural vegetation and leaving behind loose soil, which was easily picked up by the wind and created into dust storms. As a result of this, they couldn't farm and started to lose their houses to foreclosure. People started to move west to California to find jobs there, which left farming towns decimated. They had few customers, so banks, businesses, schools, and churches closed down as more and more people left the Dust Bowl.

Women's right in 1920's

People in the 1920's were so used to the women being at home, taking care of the children, cleaning, and making food. They were not allowed to work or even go to school. They had to be covered up the whole time. They had long hair and did not wear much make up. They were called the flappers and these girls would wear skirts and dresses that went over their knees. Hair was short and were allowed to style their hair. They wore a lot of make up, and were allowed to go to work and school. Pretty much the complete opposite of the other women. They would go to parties, smoke, and even drink. The girls were allowed to date but the 'traditional' girls were not allowed to. The traditional girls thought very badly about the flapper girls. Parents would still get upset with them because no one could control them. This relates kind of to now, because girls now still drink, smoke, and party. But others dress differently, don't party, or drink.

Who's Fault Was the Great Depression?

There were certainly a variety of causes for the great depression. Many things could be blamed for it: issues with banks, overzealous stock market deals, and most importantly -- President Hoover.

It would be unfair to blame Hoover for everything, however. He did try to relieve some of the effects of the depression, though arguably in the wrong way.

Hoover's goal was to use legislation to relieve some of the problems. However, the artificially increased wages only served to create more inflation. Essentially, Hoover's used government intervention to relieve the depression, albeit ineffectively.

Roosevelt did the same thing with the New Deal -- except on an even greater scale. There was even more government intervention with the deal.

Thus, was it really Hoover's fault? Leave your thoughts below.

The American Government - Before and After the Depression

Before the Great Depression, the government often did not involve itself in financial affairs of the American citizens. This meant they did nothing to assist people financially. However, the Depression was a time which changed this previously held ideology. President Roosevelt came up with the New Deal, a major contributor to creating government involvement in the finances of United States citizens, in order to assist them through financial troubles caused by the depression.

The government began assuring that banks would not lose money that people had deposited, and that people would have money to live off of later with Social Security.

This New Deal has remained a large part of government financial affairs even today.

The New Deal -- Too Much?

The New Deal was certainly overall beneficial for our country. By creating more jobs and opportunity for the American people, our country was slowly recovering from the massive depression that hit previously.

The deal mainly involved giving people more jobs and more resources.

But was this too much? Did the New Deal cause the people to be overly reliant on government for their careers and welfare?

Because so many people had government based jobs, the government suddenly became a prime regulator for the economy. They could single handedly help assist or harm the economy.

In addition, the government took care of people in other ways, through social security and other programs. Currently, these programs occupy huge portions of our current expenditures.

The deal caused an influx of power with our government....power that it has to this very day. Is the government now too powerful because of it? And are our people far too reliant on the government because of it?

Leave your thoughts below.

How did the start of WW2 help the U.S get out of the depression?

One of the main factors that got the U.S out of the great depression was the start of WW2. A contributing factor was the rise of the plane industry. The U.S realized that planes would be part of WW2 so they started mass producing them. Before this, the U.S only took up 5% of the investments into the industrial industry, but after the start of manufacturing planes it bumped up to 67%. This increased the number of jobs for manufacturing the planes and getting materials. For 20 years before the manufacturing planes, the largest industry was the manufacturing of cars, but once WW2 started the plane industry was four times larger than the car industry. In all this is just one of the many ways WW2 helped get the U.S out of the depression.

What does the Supreme Court do?

Generally, the Supreme Court deals with larger issues rather than a two-party conflict. So, they might accept to do a court ruling on a matter between two smaller parties if there is a larger issue at hand. For example, there was the case of 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Although this was not between large corporations they dealt with this because it involved a large social issue at the time. They ruled that racial segregation in public places is unconstitutional. They then can settle the dispute between the parties, but they need to rely on the other branches of government to work on fixing the issue nationally. You can see this in this specific example by how there was no implementation for fixing the racial segregation for years to come. 

As a president, how likely are you to be assassinated?

The United States of America recently elected its 45th president, Donald J. Trump. As we all know this has been subject to much controversy, which I'm sure at some point involved death threats towards our president-elect. This got me thinking: how likely is a president to be assassinated?

Out of the 44 presidents we have had so far, 4 have been shot to death, and 12 more have had their assassinations plotted and/or attempted. Therefore, if you were to become president, there is about a 1 in 10 chance of being killed, and 2 in 10 chance of an (unsuccessful) attempt being made at your life.

For any other job (imagine an industrial worker, for example), this statistic would be more than enough to discourage the worker from taking the job. I think it's interesting how despite all that, cycle after cycle there are plenty of candidates participating in a brutal fight to rule a nation for a few years.

Personally, I wouldn't run for president if only to avoid early graying hair.

Black Friday

If you participated in this year's Black Friday, I'd encourage you to rethink doing so.

I personally don't participate in Black Friday, not only because I strongly dislike overwhelming crowds of people trampling each other to get into department stores, but for a larger reason: Black Friday perpetuates capitalism. Capitalism is one of the most prevalent issues in our society today, virtually to the point where it controls the lives of every single person in the United States.

Is there a link between Black Friday and capitalism? Yes: an increase in demand on days such as Black Friday encourages an increase in production and resources needed to fulfill that demand. In order for production to happen, workers are thrown into a system that oppresses each and every one of them as well as the poor because all of this only profits the rich minority, who trick the workers into thinking that they are playing a role in "stimulating the economy" while they, in reality, are simply units in a mass-production complex. Not only does this harm the workers without them knowing it, but it harms the environment as well. What keeps factories going? What are electronics (yes, your phone and computer) and clothing made of? Think about it: deforestation and the pollution of air and water are byproducts of this demand. Worst of all, capitalism perpetuates greed, both among the public and large corporations; humans are naturally selfish and we will never get tired of wanting more. In the end, the only people who really benefit are the capitalists themselves.

I understand that going shopping on Black Friday is a tradition for many families in the United States. Clearly, however, we must take a step back and think about the deeper implications of this "tradition".

Federal Emergency Relief Act

The Federal Emergency Relief Act was put into terms on May 12, 1933.  This act provided grants; that did not have to be paid back much like a loan; to states in use of helping with relief from a catastrophe.  This use of help became a huge part for Civil Works Administration and after many wars. Employing over millions of people who helped relief programs. Its job was to help end the Great Depression and unfortunately this program along with others fell short. Instead it came to World War 2 and the million of jobs resulting from it to end the Great Depression. Although The Federal Emergency Relief Act only had a 3 year life it helped many states and programs.
The Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933 was mandated that it shall end after 2 years of being placed, having to then be replaced the Works Progress Administration was created.  This took over and improved the programs put into place by the Federal Emergency Relief Act, and was created by the authority of the Emergency Relief Appropriate Act of 1935.

Roosevelt and The New Deal

Often referred to as the First New Deal, the First Hundred Days was a period of time in which Roosevelt tried his best to get people back to work as soon as possible. He based his deal around the three R's: relief, recovery, and reform. "Relief" were short-term solutions to stop the help ease the immediate suffering. These included the Emergency Banking Act to try and save the banks and the Unemployment Relief Act which was able to provide jobs through projects such as reforestation. "Recovery" was the beginning of the economic stability. These included the Economy Act to balance the budget and aid the veterans and the Tennesee Valley Authority which constructed dams, prevented flooding and provided jobs. "Reform" aimed to prevent crises like the Depression from happening in the future. These included Acts such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the Federal Securities Act. The Agricultural Act set up the AAA which paid farmers to prevent overproduction. The Federal Securities Act made it illegal for brokers to conceal information when selling stocks to prevent any future issues. Overall, this deal was very ambitious. However, knowing that the New Deal did not get us out of the Great Depression, can we still consider it successful? Why, or why not?

What programs from the New Deal are still around today and what are their effects now?

Over the last couple of classes, we have been talking a lot about the New Deal that was put into place when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933. The New Deal created a lot of programs that were meant to help the nation get through the Great Depression by creating jobs and opportunities for the unemployed and to stop anything like the Depression from happening again. Some of these programs are still around today. If they were taken away, what do you think would happen to our society? Would we return to the Depression or are there new safety measures in place that would stop that from happening even if the previous safety measures were removed?

Thoughts?

Changing Perceptions of Government

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected into office, he immediately began taking huge measures to help the American people. He came to power in the midst of a deep depression, in a time where the people had little faith in the government. Before he was in office, the government was a passive entity in the lives of individual citizens. But Roosevelt saw that his people needed the government to be more involved, and to help them with their specific needs. He poured relief into the country, creating countless initiatives during his Hundred Days. This direct aid helped changed people's perceptions of the government. They created a connection with their federal government because of this. Roosevelt not only helped pull the nation out of a deep depression, but completely changed the role of government in the life of an average American citizen.

What is Social Security?

I remember getting my first paycheck and looking down the list of deductions and seeing one for social security. While seeing the deductions on your paycheck may be annoying, it has many positive effects that many people benefit from. This idea was originally implemented by Franklin Roosevelt in his Second New Deal he passed the Social Security Act in 1935. At its origin, it established a pension. It provided security for those injured on the job and unemployment insurance. It also provided aid for mothers and disabled people. Currently, 59 million people benefit from social security. The 9 digit code that is your social security number may be required for many things. The social security number was started in 1936. It was first created to be able to track salaries of Americans but today is used to verify identities. Social Security numbers are assigned at birth. Social Security has been a lasting effect of the New Deal, and one that many Americans today still benefit from.

Black Friday

Thanksgiving has been a widely celebrated American holiday for centuries. A more recently created holiday, however, is Black Friday - the day after thanksgiving. The tradition started in the mid-20th century, and has since been a huge hit among americans. Every year, it marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Stores all around the nation post once-a-year discounts for people to take advantage of. Some shoppers are so vicious, that people have actually been trampled to death during the initial stampede into the store. When it first started, stores would open at around 6am. Now stores are open from the midnight right after Thanksgiving in order to squeeze more revenue from their customers.

Does your family participate in this American tradition?

God in America?

During the early 1900 a big topic rose in America that was a arguing topic for several years. It was based off of religion and if it should play a role in children education and how far you can go believing or using the bible until science intervened.  In other words it was the struggle between 2 groups weather or not science was the root of life or Gods word in the bible. This lead to many cases and arguments. Religion served as an engine for law reforms during this era of American History by making Americans pick a side that will eventually split the country until a trial came to follow. Many Federalist believed that life should and people should believe deeply in Christianity and use it as a basis for life. While others thought that evolution got in the way of beliefs and science, leading to conflict on who to believe. Leading to many trials such as Bryan's. Who was asked to support his views on the bible, by Darrow who called him into witness. Darrow questioned Bryan, specifically about Genesis when God created light and night, tricking Bryan to look stupid and idiotic in what he believed in. Believing "One miracle is as easy to believe as another". With this being radio live the whole world saw the stupidity of the fundamentalist and realized that they were believing something without being able to reason with what is stated nor having any support. In the ended this ended the split and lead to end of religion and evolution in studies for views were being intertwined. In the end many still stuck to there beliefs but the impact this had on many peoples life's and views was outstanding. Blaming or assuming events were to come based off of religion, for example many thought WW1 was the end of the life believing that bad things would happen because of their sins. It changed peoples views and caused many arguments between people along with riots.
 

Lorena Hickok

Lorena Hickok was mentioned in our book. She was hired to tour around the country to report the hardships of everyday Americans back to the White House.
Her childhood was tough, her father beat her and her sisters and they were constantly moving around so that her father could find work. At the age of 14, she ran away and was a maid. Her mother's cousin saved her from this life and she went back to high school and enrolled in Lawrence College but flunked out a year later. She worked for a couple of different newspapers mostly writing the society section, the only position that was available to women. During the war, she moved to New York City in the hopes of being a journalist covering the stories but was fired within a month.
She enrolled in the University of Minnesota but left school without completing it. Thomas J. Dillon recognized her talents and mentored her allowing her to cover more dramatic stories at the Minneapolis Tribune. The Associated Press hired her and she came to fame.
She covered the Roosevelts during the presidential campaign and formed a close friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt. Harry Hopkins hired her to visit 32 states to give detailed reports on living conditions following the New Deal. She was very valuable to Eleanor Roosevelt, editing her columns and accompanying her on diplomatic visits. Eleanor invited her to live at the White House but Hickok had to leave as her diabetes worsened.
Her ability to overcome adversity and to continue trying after failure is what stands out to me today. Despite multiple setbacks, she would always look for a new way or a new angle.

The History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving goes way back, starting initially during the 1600s. However, it was not declared a national holiday until two centuries later -- the 1800s.

Thanksgiving can be traced to how previously, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans paid tribute to their gods after the fall harvest. For the pilgrims, it was used as a way to celebrate the end of a long drought in 1623 that had threatened their agriculture.

Thanksgiving actually ended up changing from the last Thursday of every month to the second to last Thursday of every month by President Roosevelt in 1939, in order to create more sales during the Holiday season. However, this was met with large amounts of opposition, and was changed back to the last one.

How do you guys celebrate this holiday?

Great Depression Vs Great Recession

Recently we've been learning about the Great Depression. Watching documentaries and reading various articles online to find information. I never knew much about the Great Depression and always had a preconceived notion of how bad it was. I was totally wrong, the Great Depression was definitely worse than what I thought it was. It wasn't just half the population it was basically all the population trying to deal with massive financial losses and issues. With the Great Recession since it was so recent most people know how it started but with the Great Depression I never truly knew how it started. In my mind I always thought the stock market was just a recent "business" but never understood that it started a very long time ago. Reading many different articles and watching the documentaries, I believe the Great Depression is overwhelming worse than the Great Recession. They both have similar issues and big differences such as how they started. One of the most obvious similarities of the two are how they affected the majority of the population financially. People lost mass amounts of money as well as some lives were ruined for good because of the stress and pressure put on these people. Overall, the Great Depression was bound to happen but the Great Recession could be blamed on citizens with too much power in government.

Reflecting on the Election

It has been almost 3 weeks since America elected a new President, and the aftermath is beginning to unfold. Immediately after the election, there was a wave of fear throughout the nation, combined with a wave of misogynistic and racist behavior that felt briefly validated. Many people protested, both peacefully, and in a destructive and violent way. Now, that has become less common, and we are more in a state of fearfully watching, waiting to see how this will go. In Trump's 100 days, nobody is sure what may happen. He has begun electing officials who are against many of the things that democrats have been working for a long time. His new head of the EPA is someone who does not believe in climate change. The woman he is looking to be in charge of education is opposed to public schools and greatly supports for-profit Christian schools. These are worrying, and all we can do is watch and wait, and hope that this goes well.

Great Depression and Great Recession Differences

The Great Depression and The Great Recession were both large economic failures, and both has differing reasons they happened and effects they had. The Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted until 1939, while The Great Recession started in 2007, and only lasted a few years. The Great Depression lasted much longer, and it was a much larger and more serious crash, and it effected many more people. The Great Depression was caused by a big stock market crash, and people taking out all their money of the banks, which caused the banks to run out of money and fail. It caused mass unemployment, people to lose money, and the unemployment rate peaked at 25% during that time. The Recession was much less serious. It was caused by housing prices increasing because of bank loans, and it increased debt caused by the housing market. The unemployment rate was about 10%, compared to the 25% of the Depression. So The Great Depression was a much more serious and longer lasting crisis, and was centered around banks and stocks, while the Recession was shorter lived, less serious, and dealt with banks and the housing market.

Early Depression Impact

Yesterday in class we learned about the Great Depression. Some of the most important points were that the bank failures caused 9 million savings accounts to disappear, forcing people to sell their furniture and belongings to make enough money to survive since a lot of them had also lost their jobs. At the beginning, people blamed themselves because they thought they hadn't worked hard enough, and as a result of this didn't expect the government to do anything about it. But as the Depression dragged on, they started questioning why the government hadn't done something to help the people by then. They started to blame President Hoover for not doing anything to help the country, and started using his name to represent bad things, such as Hoovervilles, which were shantytowns of unemployed people at the edges of cities. To escape their hard times, people went to the theater and where entertained for hours while only paying 15 cents, danced to swing music, which was a form of jazz, and listened to radio dramas, which were becoming very popular at the time.

Great Depression vs. Great Recession

Jamie Kesten, Merlyn Boljonis & Quinn Lavin

The Great Depression (Affects on the Average Person)

Although an estimated 40% of the U.S population did not face any hardship during the Great Depression, others had to deal with real issues. First of all, there was a decrease in marriages and divorces. The reason for this drop was due to the marriage/divorce fees which people could not afford. There was also over 1.5 million cases of husbands leaving their families because they were too hard to support. There was also a reported 25% unemployment rate.
There were also positive effects. Some of these positive effects include the rise of employed women. Before this, it was considered that the men in the family should be the breadwinners and support their families, but due to the lack of jobs for men, there was a rise in women seeking work.

Great Depression vs. Great Recession Infographic by Reuben, James, and Peter

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18352725-depression-vs-recession

My Great Depression Vs Great Recession Infographic

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18279836-great-depression-vs-great-recession-infographic

Great Depression vs. Great Recession Infographic (Dylan and George)

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18283331-infographic 

Great Depression vs. Great Recession

Great Depression vs Great Recession - Paige Labuda, Matt Carpenter, Jordan Shaver

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18352747-infographic

Great Depression vs Great Recession - Dan Appel, Trevor Straus

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18283715-thing
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18283715-thing?presentation=true

By Dan Appel and Trevor Straus

Stock Market Values Impact on Economy - Jordan

Following research about the impact of the Stock Market crash of 1929 on the American Economy and life, our group came to multiple conclusions.

Because so many people lost huge amounts of money, they in turn lost their jobs as well.  Companies were unable to employ people as they had lost the funds required to maintain their business.

The Stock Market value directly influenced the rates of homelessness during the Great Depression. This is because as the value of the Stock Market tanked, many people lost huge investments, leading to mass financial crisis. Because of this financial crisis, people were unable to pay for their homes, which, in turn, put them directly on the streets.

Great Depression vs. Great Recession

Pictochart Infographic

Pictochart by Josh H. and Quinn W.
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18201417-great-depression-vs-great-recession

Great Depression vs. Great Recession

The Great Depression and the Great Recession, two similar economic downfalls, were actually quite different. They had different causes, the Great Depression being caused by the economy not being diverse enough and causing everything else to fall because of a chain reaction. However, the Great Recession was caused by banks making too much money through loans which pushed up house prices and increased debt. Also, the Great Depression was generally more severe in each area than the Great Recession was, except home foreclosures. The Depression had 9,000 banks in total fail throughout the 30’s, while the Recession had 492 bank failures from 2005-2013. In addition, unemployment during the Depression reached a peak of 25%, with up to 15 million Americans lose their jobs. But during the Recession, the peak unemployment rate was 8.5%, and 8.4 million jobs were lost. Lastly, the rate of home foreclosures in the Depression exceeded 1%, but during the Recession 3.5% of homes were in the national foreclosure inventory, and there were more than 4 million completed foreclosures. So, while the Great Depression was more severe in the aspects of unemployment and bank failures, the Great Recession was more severe with home foreclosures.

Infographic

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18283326-great-depression-vs-great-recession

Ian
Abel
Erik

The Cause of the Great Recession

The Great Recession was caused by many different issues. The problem that led to the Great Recession was that the there was a lack of regulations, which included a lot of financial firms not acting conservatively and taking on took many risks; the federal reserve failing to control bad mortgages; and policymakers that were not well informed on the current economic situation. The main reason was the crash of the housing market. The issue was that too many people had mortgages on sub-prime mortgage rates, that they could barely afford. When the housing bubble crashed the rates skyrocketed creating a financial crisis. In all experts believe that the Great Recession was avoidable if there were better planning and observations.

Why Wall Street Crashed in 1929

As we have been learning about in class recently, the end of the roaring 20s consisted of a massive crash in the stock market. Many believed that the market would simply continue to grow forever, while others realized that the kind of explosive growth experienced in the 20s could not last long.

There were a huge variety of factors that could be attributed to the crash, but some were assuredly more important than others.

For starters, the "buy now, pay later" mindset became popular at the time -- meaning that many Americans had amassed great sums of debt.

Many other factors also helped -- automobile sales decreasing, less steel production, and eventually stocks reaching a plateau.

What do you guys think was the biggest cause of the crash? Leave your thoughts below.

What role does the first lady play in a presidency?

Most of us have heard the accusations that President-Elect Donald Trump's wife, Melanie Trump, repeated segments of one of Michelle Obama's speeches nearly verbatim. This got me thinking: what does it take to be a first lady?

The first lady has no official responsibilities but usually is still an important figure in the presidency and American society. For example, Woodrow Wilson's first lady, Edith Wilson, is well known to have been filtering the information that her husband saw, giving her a great amount of power. When Wilson suffered a stroke in the middle of his term, Edith kept it secret and essentially took control over the presidency.

Recent first ladies like Hilary Clinton and Michelle Obama have also been noteworthy. Hillary Clinton was already in political science and as such had a large amount of power. She participated in many democratic events and later even ran for president. Michelle Obama is a lawyer and a woman rights supporter and has done a large amount of work in those areas during her husband's terms.

This brings us back to Melanie Trump, who works as a model and does not have a college degree. Now, I am not saying that this means she will be bad at her social duties, but it seems as though she doesn't quite fit in. Despite being the first lady not being a hugely important job, I am curious (and slightly worried) to see how the next one will perform.

Early FDR Presidency

President Roosevelt was elected in 1932 after he promised Americans he would help the country recover from the depression and go into better times. He beat President Hoover, who wanted to let the economy fix itself without federal intervention, in a landslide election. Once he was inaugurated, he passed a record number of bills in three months with the intent of helping the economy. Some of these included the Reforestation Relief Act, which gave 250,000 men jobs maintaining forests and planting trees, and the Federal Securities Act, which regulated the sale of stocks and bonds. There were also smaller acts, such as the Beer-Wine Revenue Act the legalized the sale of beer and wine, that helped increase the money that was flowing into legal businesses to help the economy.

After Reflecting on Modern Foreign Policy

After writing position paper #5 and doing lots of research on our modern foreign policy and how it relates to the 14 points, I have found that the goals Obama and our government have now are very similar to the goals of Wilson then, after WWI. The idea of self determination and being a model of democracy both stood out to me as important goals because they relate exactly to what Wilson wished for our country.

But Wilson's main point, the League of Nations, was not accepted. This showed a rather isolationist view in America, because people were afraid of entangling alliances. Similarly, our new president-elect Trump has seemed to support a rather radical isolationist viewpoint. If he follows through on this viewpoint, it could completely change our relations with other countries, because it would be such a difference from what we had with Obama. Do you think this is a problem or a benefit for our country?

Decrease in Buying and Selling of Goods

When an industry or social class fails, it is expected for others to rise and compensate for it. But during the Great Depression, they could not compensate due to the chain reaction that happened. After the stock market crashed, the rich were afraid of spending lots of money since they had lost some of it. This meant that they wouldn't buy as many goods industries produced. This led to there being an overproduction of goods with no one buying them. The poor could rarely buy anything without credit, but with their low wages and the Depression, they couldn't pay back the loans. This meant the middle class would have to compensate and buy goods, but a lot of them were losing their jobs because no one would buy the goods and they had to be laid off. This was a problem in the lower and middle class, which led to a cycle of people not being able to buy things because they lost their jobs, so more people would be fired because the industries weren't selling enough products. The book mentions that this could have been avoidable if the Federal Reserve hadn't increased the interest rates on loans because then banks and companies could have stayed in business, leading to more people working, and in turn more money to buy goods, which would keep businesses and industries alive and making products.

Causes of the Great Depression

In class today, we had a long discussion about the causes of the Great Depression. The Great Depression lasted for the duration of around 1929-1939. There was not one specific event that caused the Great Depression, but rather an accumulation of different declines in many different aspects of the economy which caused a chain reaction and allowed for no way to fix it.

For example, one reason that we discussed was lack of diversification in the American Economy. The economy following the 20's was largely based on only two industries, construction and manufacturing. Because of this lack of diversification, if one industry begins to fail, which they did, then it would cause all others to fail with nothing strong enough to counter it. A large part of manufacturing was the automobile, but after a certain point sales declined because everyone who needed or wanted one already had one. Also, construction was not always reliable because it was hard to predict whether a city would need a skyscraper built or not. Another industry, agriculture, was terribly failing after the end of WWI leaving it with a much smaller number of consumers.

With these industries failing, it causes people to be laid off and for there to be less jobs. This makes the poor, working class even more poor and a lot more people were in poverty. With people in poverty, they could not buy things that helped fuel the economy and continue the circulation of money. It was a vicious cycle that could not be lifted.

Trade declining during this time with other countries also isolated the Americans even more and there was nothing to save them. Tariffs caused international trade to be too expensive and to have no consumers willing to buy.

Is there anything the Americans could have done to prevent the Great Depression, or reduce its length? Are there any other causes or effects that you guys want to add?

How could we prevent another crash in the economy?

As shown in history, there are rises and crashes in the economy. I'm looking into what the main cause of these crashes are, specifically in the 30's, and how we could prevent another crash. As we learned, in the 20's there was a peak in the economy. Things were looking great and only looked like they were going to get better. However, when everyone bought what they needed, they no longer needed those things. That caused them to stop buying things like cars, washing machines, and buildings. This made it so the people that earned money from selling these things earned less money, so they didn't buy as much. This led to a domino effect that affected everyone. So to me, the problem seems to be that people cannot stop buying things. People need to keep needing. As long as wealth is distributed, it will be there. If people start to get greedy and hold onto all their money, it will affect others, and things can fall apart. One flaw I see to this is that no matter what, some people will want to hold onto their money. This is just an idea, and by no means am I an expert on the economy, but what do you think?

The End of the "Blue Skies"

There was no a single cause of the Great Depression, but rather a combination of many. It all started with the low interest rates that made excessive borrowing very easy in the 1920's. Then the stock market crashed, which in turn led to banks failing because their loans were unable to be paid. This completely wiped out millions of depositors' savings. During this time, the wealth gap widened and lead to problems such as overproduction and then underconsumption. Both of these led to more goods being produced than consumed. This caused a huge problem, resulting in less production and mass layoffs. Perhaps the worst action that the government made was imposing high tariffs on foreign sales in hopes of "protecting American businesses." The opposite effect occurred as the European countries raised their tariffs on goods imported from the US, leading to a decline in the world economy as well, spreading the woes across the globe. What could the government have done to lessen the damage?

The Risk of Putting Money into Banks

Compared to the banks of today, banks during the 1920's were incredibly unstable. They allowed people (especially stock brokers) to easily borrow money from them. In turn, the average person borrowed money from the stock brokers in order to make risky investments in hopes of getting rich (also known as buying on margin). This resulted in lots of debt being acquired. Even before the Great Depression, banks declined at a rate of 2 per day. When the stock market crashed, all of the problems accelerated and loans accumulated, resulting in bank runs which in turn ended with even more banks closing and millions of people losing their money. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but was it possible to see this coming? What could have been done to reduce the effects, if it was inevitable?

Election Reflection

Good job, America. Over this past week, I have lost count of the number of times I felt embarrassed and ashamed to call myself an American. As someone who fits into over half the categories of people a certain person has insulted, I am terrified. Nobody should be discriminated for their gender, race, sexual orientation, or anything for that matter. Imagine seeing the person you like in the hallway at school and immediately losing your mind because it's apparently no longer safe to love differently. Imagine a certain adult telling you to "cover up", "change your shirt" and "look less like a slut". But this isn't about me. This is about every individual who belongs in each category of people that have faced discrimination over the past who-knows-how-many years. I've read countless tweets and articles about simply unacceptable things that have happened within the span of the past week. I'm sure most of us have joked about moving to Canada to escape this mess (I know I have), but I have decided to stick around for the next four years to fight for progress for the country I have known, at least, up until last Monday. America does not deserve this, and neither do you.

In class talk

In class today we watched a documentary that describes how judgement changed and society changed overtime. Multiple examples were given, one being, women started dressing more openly. These women were called flappers or vamps depending on how much they go against the rules. Flappers did what they wanted to do like drinking alcohol but still following some laws/rules. While vamps did everything flappers did but much more rule breaking and going against societal norm. Hotels were one physical object that started proving America was changing. In addition, some citizens didn't enjoy the change and decided to join/start the KKK. People wanted America to go back to the old day and didn't like the change which is what the KKK offered per say. Another group of citizens liked the future but wanted the comfort of the past.

The Mystery Behind Mr. Stewart's Bench Press o_o

Mr. Stewart appears to have an impressive physique. As a fitness enthusiast myself, I can certainly appreciate when someone puts in hard work at the gym -- and Mr. Stewart seems to be putting in that work.

But when asked about how much he can conquer on the bench press, Mr. Stewart evaded the question. So we must wonder -- what is his secret?

Does he use alternative exercises? Maybe dumbbell flies, push ups, or dumbbell presses? Does Mr. Stewart secretly bench 3 45s on each side? (315 lbs). If he doesn't bench press, how much is he dumbbell pressing?

Or what if it isn't an exercise at all? When confronted about his mysterious bench press, Mr. Stewart said that it was all in the polo. Maybe his polos are all intricately tailored to make him look larger? 

Or what if he's juiced up on oodles of creatine and nitric oxide?

What is the secret?

We may never know. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Election

More election information came out regarding Mr. Trump. Multiple more countries have reached out to Trump to offer congratulations and their wishes to being able to work together. He also had an interview with CBS where he talks more on stances. He solidified that he does want to build the wall. He also clarified saying that the people he will make sure to be deported first are illegal immigrants that have a criminal record. Also to add, his stance on deporting all illegal immigrants wasn't 100% clear. He stated that it will all be decided when it comes to time, he could allow the illegal immigrants with no criminal history to become citizens if they're in the US. Trump was asked about Obamacare again and stated he will be repealing and replacing it, but he added he wants to keep two points that Obamacare has. People who have Obamacare right now will be added to his new healthcare plan and children under their parents government healthcare will have coverage until they're 28 years old.

Why Mr. Stewart Only Wears Polos

Mr. Stewart told us today why he only wears polos and khakis while teaching. He said that the consistency in his clothing is preferable over inconsistent clothing to students, and he cites a study he did on the topic in the past.

I find it quite interesting that consistency in a teacher's clothing vs inconsistency in a teacher's clothing actually has an impact on said teacher's students.

Is this a subconscious thought process or do students actually record what their teacher wears everyday? Leave your thoughts below.

Media and Politics

This post is a follow up to my previous one. I feel that a second big issue in politics and elections today is how opposite one another Democrats and Republicans running for higher office are. Politicians are afraid to cooperate or go against their political party's views because it would hurt their chance of re-election. We're also getting politicians who lean more towards their political side and are farther from the middle. I think this is because news outlets and other media sources tend to support one view point very heavily. People who consume this information see these half-truths or even false facts, and are led to believe that the other side must be stupid for ignoring these blatantly obvious truths, unaware that they're not actually truths. News outlets might also say that the other side is more extreme than it really is, making people oppose the other political party more than before. This could be changed if we had more honest and fair news sources, but that is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Voting in America

In class a few days ago, we discussed the election, the electoral college vs popular vote, and some other things. Personally, I believe that the way the electoral college gives different types of people a more equal say in government is a good idea, but that it's very poorly implemented.

First off, the way most states have a winner-take-all voting system is a bad idea. Republican votes in California and Democratic votes in Texas are entirely irrelevant. This means that politicians only have to attract voters in states that are on the fence for who they're going to vote for, rather than having to try to attract as many voters as possible. It also makes it harder for there to be change in politics, as third parties have essentially no chance of winning any states entirely, and people, knowing this, feel that third-party votes are wasted and would never vote for them in the first place.

In order to fix this, I believe we should make two changes to our current voting system. First off, we should make electoral college votes be proportional, if a state has 10 electoral college votes and one candidate wins 60% of the vote, they should get 6 electoral college votes.
In addition, we should switch to a two-round voting system, which means that you can vote for whoever you like at first, but only people who pass a certain percentage of the vote make it to the next round, like a sports single-elimination bracket. This would let people not be afraid of voting for candidates who don't have a very good chance of winning the overall election, because if that candidate didn't win, they could still pick their second choice and not feel that their vote was worthless, and if that candidate won, they'd feel confident voting for that candidate again in the second round because that candidate already managed to get a good percentage of the vote, and would have a serious chance of winning.

While these two changes would not fix everything in politics, I feel that they would make voting more fair, by making everybody's vote count, and they would also allow more change in the political system, which many people currently want.

1920s Mass Media

Popular culture took on an entirely different state during the 1920s, when radio, print media, and movies became big. It developed new stars, erased regional divisions, and shaped a culture. 

First, print media became a large influence. While newspapers and magazines had been traditional sources of information for a while, they expanded into Americans buying about 200 million copies a year. More people bought more material, which meant more people were becoming more informed on common issues. This meant that borders that divided people started to fade away, leaving a more unified people based on a common understanding of events. 

Next there was radio. The first commercial radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which broadcasted the results of the 1920 election. After that broadcast, people began to understand the potential of this medium. David Sarnoff was an especially influential figure in the world of radio. When the Titanic sank, he stayed at his radio post for 72 hours, relaying the names of survivors to land-bound relatives. After Radio Corporation of America bought the company Sarnoff worked for, he proposed that there was a nationwide broadcasting network. That led to the formation of the National Broadcasting Company, and then television was built off of that. 

Finally, movies were a huge medium that developed during the twenties. The then silent films were a way of escaping the tragedies of World War I, and ticket sales rose higher than ever before. Once sound was added, the movies changed popular culture in waves. It was then when movie stars became the ultimate celebrities, and exposed people to new styles and ideas. 

Consumer Culture in the 20s

Consumer culture is a culture that "views the consumption of large quantities of goods as beneficial to the economy and a source of personal happiness." In the 1920s, this idea was created after companies used branding and marketing to promise a better to life to customers if they used their product.

When new minds began to make new inventions, it was to make their life easier. Charles Strite didn't like being served burnt toast, so he invented the pop-up toaster in 1919. Clarence Birdseye created a system of flash-freezing food in 1923. George Washington Carver made numerous products based on purely agricultural means.

With these new objects being made and sold, producers needed to tell people why they should buy this new product instead of saving money and sticking with their old product. Producers began to send out advertisements that promised an overall better life if consumers bought their product, even if it was as simple as a new kind of soap. Soon, for consumers it was a sign of prestige if you had the newest model of a product, which spurred the consumer culture even more.

People began to notice that they couldn't keep up with the production of all these new products by paying out of pocket. Thus, credit was expanded until nearly everyone was using it to buy their products. Before, people thought it was shameful to borrow money or use loans to buy something. But now, buying on credit was so easy that people were able to buy all these new products without feeling like there was an end in sight.

The Election Results

When we found out the results of the election, most of America seemed shocked. All the polls prior to the elections favored Hillary to win over Trump. They had Hillary at 67% chance to win and Donald Trump at 33% chance. However, I disagree with this idea of chance. I think that there was a 100% chance for Donald Trump to win, we just didn't know it was going to happen. Why were we misdirected into thinking that Hillary had it made? Why were the polls wrong? Was it because they had a bad sample of people? Or was it because they lied about their results? Or was it because Trump Supporters were actually the silent majority? What do you think?

The Effects of Protest Votes

Throughout this election, many different news outlets, famous celebrities, and politicians have advocated for the benefits of voting for certain candidates, whether if they were to be genuine votes or even just out of protest. However, I would argue that although it is beneficial for people to vote in general because this aids the democratic system as a whole (through self-representation), overall protest votes to third parties are detrimental, since their effects are generally the same as just abstaining. For example, in Florida, a state generally known for being a "battleground state" and a "swing state" because of how many electoral votes the state has and because there is a major political divide throughout the state, around 3% of voters voted for someone part of a third party. And as we all know, Donald Trump ended up winning Florida by a few hundred thousand votes, a surprising margin for the state considering that in recent history, it has generally swung to the democrat party. Now, if the voters who had given their "protest votes" had either voted for Clinton or Trump based on similarities between their personal beliefs and these candidates' political views, they could have actually changed the outcome of Florida's electoral votes, since in theory, these people could have swung the state towards Clinton. However, because they instead chose to protest against Clinton and Trump by not even voting at all, their effect on the Florida election didn't change the outcome, since only the votes towards the two major candidates were the determining factors of where the state swung. Now, although you may argue that the whole point of a "protest vote" is to just vent frustration at the political system as a whole, I believe that there are much more beneficial ways to do so whether they are through becoming politically active in local communities, participating in rallies or protests, or even just voicing their frustrations to others around them. All of these things, no matter how effective or not, are still more politically beneficial to a person who wants change because they allow people to directly impact politics to a certain extent rather than just pacifistically voting in protest. In my opinion, the entire of idea of giving protest votes is poor because in many situations, the people giving such votes are politically uneducated as they choose to not at least research specific third parties to find a fitting one to them before voting. Instead, people just say, "I'll vote Jill Stein because I heard she was the most liberal" or "I'll vote Gary Johnson because he's more of a Republican than Donald Trump" without even researching either candidate and their views. Furthermore, instead of giving votes in protest and not contributing whatsoever towards an honest election, people should at least research who they are voting for in the first place and find a third party that they genuinely support, because after all, although third party votes generally don't affect the actual outcome of the election, they can at least represent your true viewpoints. Take Utah, for example. In this state, even though thousands of Mormon Republicans didn't support Donald Trump for personal and religious reasons, they still found an independent politician, Evan McMullin who truly represented their beliefs and voted for him. Because of this, McMullin actually received 20% of the state's popular vote, which affected the outcome of the state's overall popular votes in a way that represented the genuine beliefs of individuals throughout Utah instead of just representing the contrived "protest votes" against Donald Trump and towards a random politician they didn't care about. So in conclusion, I believe that protest votes are just a pacifistic and uneducated way of going against the bipartisan system which influences elections in a very negative way. Instead of giving protest votes, I think people should either find a third party candidate they genuinely believe in before voting so that at least their vote represents their views, vote for a Democrat or Republican who resembles their views the most, become politically active, or just abstain.

2016 Election: Concerns With The Future

For this election, I was really divided on who I supported. At the end of the day, I didn't support anyone and just waited to see who would win and await it with the same level of dread. Either way, I'm concerned about the future of the economy. As being close to going to college, suddenly having an economic depression due to choices made by the president would not help pay for it, since it is already hard to pay for. I'm also concerned with America being thrown into an unnecessary war in the future, as I am almost old enough to be drafted if needed, and by the time I'm old enough there would be a need for more soldiers. Mostly though, I'm concerned of the laws that might be passed with a republican senate and house.

Discussion on election

Last night we got the results on who is going to be our new president. And well Trump won and a lot of people are upset over it. We vote for what we would like to change in our near future. I am also upset over it not only because he won because well we really had to look at which one of the both sucked less? because they both did not have to offer as much as we would like. I think women should have the right over their own body, I mean it is OUR body. Trump is very racists, he wants to build a wall but have the Mexican's to pay for it. Not to mention who ever is an immigrant he thinks that "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they are rapists" Like no people can come here so they can have a better life. Yes some people commit crimes but he is just targeting the immigrants, people who were born here can be just as guilty. Anyways, lets all book our flights to Canada! :) 

In-Class Discussion Overview - the 2016 Election

Today, we held an intriguing discussion over the 2016 election.

We discussed primarily, why and how Donald Trump won the election. We fell onto the topic of social media, and how Trump has a significantly bigger presence on it. However, that led me to think about propaganda as a whole, outside of social media.

Regardless of whether we like Trump or not, he undeniably is brilliant with motivation.

Trump simply excels at it. His slogan "make America great again" appeals to millions of voters, and gives them a common phrase to unite under. Additionally, his extremely hyped up rallies are simply genius, he brings people together in a way that few world leaders have been able to in the past. He makes voters feel genuinely interested in him and what he stands for.

On the other hand, Hilary has no slogan, no hats with a slogan, and nowhere near the kind of hype that trump has behind him. Hilary voters are generally not thrilled to vote for her the same way that trump voters are excited to vote for him.

And that's a key difference between the two, and a huge reason why Donald won. He created excitement like never before.

How I feel about the election....

Honestly, last night what the results of the election happened, I was really disgraced by America's decisions. I understand that the United States are a democracy but I didn't know that majority of people are able to overlook degrading comments just to support a white man's face. I understand for many people this was choosing the better of two evils, but how could a white man who is described as a bigot really be better?
Arguments for this include that Hillary is shady, but isn't trump shady too? Trump not only is shady, but he degrades women and he is very racist. Sure his degrading comments about women happen every day; at school, on the street, at home. But just because this is normal, does it mean it is okay? Cat-calling women is not okay, even if you call it 'locker room talk'. I understand a lot of men participate in this activity but making a leader of this country someone who motivates these actions is pretty irrational. Talking about touching his daughter or talking about how a model was overly fat and gaining wait is so disrespectful. I watched a video that has children say quotes that Trump said about women (I will attach that below), and the video is quite sad.


How do you feel that he is now our president? How will this affect your family? Are you scared?

Class Discussion about the 2016 Presidential Election - November 9th

Today our class had a discussion regarding the recent presidential election and the results. We discussed the multiple factors which eventually lead to the outcome of Trump winning the election over Clinton.

The discussion was quite interesting. The point that stuck with me most was the fact that Trump had a huge social media presence, which may have contributed to his victory.

The point stuck with me because it is something I definitely saw myself. Trump's social media presence, on Twitter especially, from what I saw, was much greater than Clinton's presence. This social media presence may have allowed people to relate with Trump more, which put more people in his favor.

This connects to the overall idea that Trump won mostly due to the fact that people were able to relate with him. Because of his casual way of speaking and saying whatever he wanted, people saw themselves more in him.

This idea connects to Andrew Jackson, and how saying that he was a "bastard child of a prostitute" actually helped him during the election, because people were able to relate to him through this.

Presidential Election

This presidential election in the end both sides of the parties had done wrong. I do think that Hilary did not handle the email the proper way, but at the same time if that the worst that she did and made people skeptical then tats a shame. Having had her life documented the past several month probably urged her to keep some aspects of her life private. But I do not think that deleting these emails was the right move.  I think that this is what cause this skepticism and actually lost many followers. I do think we have to remember though that people make mistakes and if this was the absolutely worst thing that she did. I think we have to second check what we consider  criminal act. After the reopening of the case Hilary did nothing wrong in the end and only lost followers because of this. But I do not think Trump was any better.  He said some things that greatly offended many women and possibly men of America, and it is something that can be really hard to excuse. He made suggestions that would only set our country back and lead to not much more success.  We as Americans after this election must try to see Trump and his views the best we can. But most importantly we must make our voices heard so that we still can determine our future for America.