Issue VII
Veracium / May 24th, 2021
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Articles
Taiwan's Drought and Why the world should care
By Joshua Rand (IV)
Chip shortages have had a massive impact on the world's econony.
Over the course of the past approximately eighteen months, the island of Taiwan, located off the coast of mainland China, has been afflicted with its worst drought in more than fifty years. This lack of water has had an immense impact on both the massive, $100 billion semiconductor industry that keeps the island's economy alive, and the people of Taiwan, now having to learn to cope with a lot less water for normal tasks and work.
Many are currently well aware of the impact the drought is having on the world's computer chips, with President Joe Biden and the rest of the United States (as well as the rest of the world) worried about an overreliance on Taiwan for the presence of new computers, ventilators, cars, and other electronics. According to BBC, about 90% of the globe's most advanced microchips are assembled in Taiwan, meaning that the water shortage affects a lot of people, and economies. However, the drought is not making it easy to support the creation of semiconductors, which require fresh, clean, flowing water to clean surfaces and wafers during the assembly process. Understandably, droughts don't make this easy, but the Taiwanese government has been determined to ensure the survival of the industry, despite reservoirs being at extraordinary lows: many are at less than 20% capacity, others below 10%, some even barely having any water left at a measly 7% capacity. To accommodate, water has been cut off from Taiwan's biggest consumer of water: farmers. Farms take up 70% of Taiwan's water usage normally, with industry taking up only 10%, but with so little water, the government chose its priorities, and they seem not to lie with farmers.
Farmers like Chuang Cheng-deng have been forced to leave their usually vast green fields fallow and dry, without any water whatsoever. Chuang told the BBC, "We also think about our country's economy, but they shouldn't completely stop providing water. … But now they've completely cut our water, farmers can't find a way out. [The government is] focusing entirely on semiconductors." Adding to the problem of farming on the island, famers are having a hard time claiming compensation, as landowners who have control over farmers' lands and thus their livelihood often end up taking the funds themselves. All of this means that despite the government's calls for more young people to go into farming as elderly framers aren't succeeded, the drought and lack of attention to farmers is demoralizing and stunting.
Some resevoirs, like the Baoshan No. 2 resevoir in Hsinchu pictured here, have been depleted to less than 10% capacity.
It's not only farmers who are being hit by the drought, however, as regular citizens across the island have had their days of running water restricted. In Taichung, the second biggest city in Taiwan and home to 2.8 million people, taps were turned off for two days a week starting in early April, forcing citizens to start employing water conserving practices, like using the same batch of water for multiple tasks, or not washing the car, or not cooking at home.
Among all of the chaos, however, one aspect of the drought remains relatively unmentioned, at least outside of Taiwan. This drought has exposed many issues that Taiwan, and also the world will have to face increasingly going forward.
Sources:
Sui, Cindy. "Why the world should pay attention to Taiwan's drought." BBC, 20 April, 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56798308. Accessed 18 November, 2021.
Hale, Erin. "Taiwan faces water wake-up call as climate change intensifies." Al Jazeera, 20 August, 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/20/taiwan-water-woes. Accessed 18 November, 2021.
Democrats Struggle to Push Legislation Amid Republican Filibusters
By Royce Huynh (IV)
US President Joe Biden
During the 2020 presidential elections, one of Joe Biden’s main advantages over many other Democrat candidates was his ability in the past to work across the aisle. However, Democrats still face struggles in securing conservative support for bills such as Biden’s infrastructure plan or his proposed commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot.
The commission is the latest piece of legislation to be filibustered by Republicans, who fear that the investigation may damage their hopes for a comeback in the 2022 midterms. Because of the filibuster, senators will not be able to vote on the laws, preventing it from being passed with the Democrats’ slim majority. In order to override a filibuster, Democrats need to get sixty votes, forcing them to garner Republican votes. While a handful of conservatives, like Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney, have broken ranks to side with Biden, Democrats still cannot get the sixty required.
In response, many progressives call for the abolishment of the filibuster, claiming that the GOP is abusing this law to block much of Biden’s agenda. Grassroot Democrats have already started organizations to end it, like Fix Our Senate, a coalition that lobbies and runs ads to create awareness and support. Progressive Senators are also the frontrunners to this movement, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, who tweeted out, “The filibuster has got to go,” after the commission was blocked by Republicans. However, abolishing the filibuster can be done in many different ways.
The simplest method to end the filibuster is to reform the law, changing the needed votes to override it from three-fifths of the Senate to just a simple majority vote. However, this would require two-thirds of the Senate to agree, making it highly unlikely given Republican opposition.
Another more complex method would be to set precedents, more commonly known as the “nuclear option”. This is when a Senate Majority Leader first appeals a filibuster as a violation of Senate law to the Presiding Officer of the Senate, usually the Vice President. If the officer agrees, then it can be used as a precedent, ending a filibuster with just a simple majority. This has been done twice already, one in 2013 in order to limit filibusters on Presidential nominations not for the Supreme Court, and another in 2017 to limit those on Supreme Court nominations. While this is more likely as Kamala Harris is the officer needed for it to work, this option can only end filibusters on future debates of certain laws, meaning Democrats will have to use it multiple times to bypass the GOP.
Sources:
Berman, Russell. "Mitch McConnell's Gift to Progressives." The Atlantic, 24 May 2021. The Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/05/mcconnell-republican-filibuster- january-6-commission/619019/. Accessed 30 May 2021.
Hulse, Carl. "After Skirting Issue, Democrats Near a Filibuster Fight." The New York Times, 27 May 2021. Gale OneFile: News, go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.dotabID=T004&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=62834&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPo
sition=4&docId=
GALE%7CA663191277&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZNEWFullText&prodId=STND&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA663191277
&searchId=R1&
userGroupName=mlin_b_blatshl&inPS=true. Accessed 30 May 2021.
Reynolds, Molly E. "What Is the Senate Filibuster, and What Would It Take to Eliminate It?" Brookings Institute, 29 Sept. 2020. Brookings Institute, www.brookings.edu/policy2020/
votervital/what-is-the-senate-filibuster-and-what-would-it-take-to-eliminate-it/. Accessed 30 May 2021.
COVID-19 vaccines are easily accessible to all
Vaccine Hesitancy
By Alessandra Woo (V)
While many are eager to get the Covid vaccine and return safely to normal life, there are still many hesitant people preventing the United States from building herd immunity.
Vaccine hesitancy was considered a top 10 global threat by the World Health Organization in 2019. When getting a vaccine, especially a newly and quickly developed one like the COVID vaccine, there are people who have skepticism towards the government agencies that produce these shots, like the CDC and FDA, and how the shots were made. When vaccines have to be created in a time limit, there is no way to test and predict long-term side effects, which may have some people worried about life after the pandemic.
The majority of those who display vaccine hesitancy, however, are those who consume propaganda and conspiracy theories from the media. They also have a distrust in government, but the type that stems from misinformation, rather than experience or critical thinking.
When considering vaccination, there is always the risk vs. the reward to consider. Is the threat that the vaccine is fighting against worth gaining immunity from, even if there might be dire side effects? Up to 62,000 people have died from the flu in the past year alone, even with effective vaccine doses. It’s the luck of the draw if a vaccine causes a negative reaction, but it is not rational to become anti-vax because of it.
Many medically educated doctors and scientists are also surprisingly prone to vaccine hesitancy because they are taught to analyze and base their opinions on data and are extremely critical. Because there are limited test studies for the COVID vaccine and information about the virus itself, many medical professionals are worried about future side effects, like birth defects, that have not yet been proved/disproved.
Vaccine hesitancy is not only an American thing; the lowest rates of vaccine acceptance were found in the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Middle and South America. The most common reasons for vaccine hesitancy around the world are: perceived risks vs. benefits, religious beliefs, and lack of knowledge/awareness.
Vaccine hesitancy can be combated by marketing the vaccine in a more familiar light. For instance, having your primary care physician give you the vaccine would make many people more comfortable with getting a new substance injected into their body.
While trusting newly developed vaccines like the COVID-19 vaccine can be unsettling, it is a necessary risk to take. Vaccination is the only way that the U.S. and the world can reach herd immunity and return back to normal life.
Sources:
Greene, Sean, and Vanessa Martínez. "COVID-19 vaccine safety: Side effects, risks, reactions." Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles], 6 Apr. 2021. Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/projects/ covid-19 -vaccine-safety-side-effects-risks-reactions/. Accessed 30 May 2021.
Rattner, Nate. "HEALTH AND SCIENCE Covid vaccinations are slowing in the U.S. as supply outstrips demand. How states are targeting who's left." CNBC, 30 Apr. 2021. CNBC, www.cnbc.com/2021/04/30/covid-vaccinations-in-us-are-slowing-as-supply-outstrips- demand.html. Accessed 30 May 2021.
Sallam, Malik. "COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Worldwide: A Concise Systematic Review of Vaccine Acceptance Rates." NCBI, 16 Feb. 2021. NCBI, doi:10.3390/vaccines9020160. Accessed 30 May 2021.
Republican Party’s Internal Strife: The Ouster of Liz Cheney
By Kevin Zhong (IV)
Trump critic Rep. Liz Cheney (left) was ousted from her #3 ranking leadership role in the House Republican Conference after several disagreements about Trump with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (center). She was replaced by Trump loyalist Rep. Elise Stefanik (right).
On May 12, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to oust Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming from her 3rd ranking House GOP leadership position as the Republican Conference Chair, over her repeated criticisms of former President Donald Trump.
Her ouster has clearly highlighted the internal division in the GOP over whether to follow along with Trump’s powerful influence heading into the 2022 midterm elections.
Cheney, who was one of the 10 House Republicans to impeach Trump for his role in the January 6th Capitol riots, has publicly voiced frustrations over the GOP’s continued embrace of the former President’s false election claims.
In her announcement to impeach Trump, Cheney stated, “There’s no question the president formed the mob, the president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob. He lit the flame.”
Since then, Cheney has been at odds with many House Republicans, including House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of California. McCarthy has said that Trump is an essential part of the Republican party if they want to win the House majority in 2022.
In a Washington Post op-ed, Cheney lambasted Trump, saying that he is a threat towards democracy and the Constitution. She urged that the GOP has to return to a platform of conservative values, and that embracing Trump’s baseless lies for short-term political gain would do nothing but harm the party and the country in the long-term.
She also accused McCarthy of “changing his story” after initially blaming Trump for the Capitol riots. In an awkward GOP leadership press conference, the two publicly disagreed over whether Trump should speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). McCarthy said that he should, while immediately after, Cheney said that Trump should not be playing a role in the party.
In addition, at the House Republicans’ annual policy retreat, Cheney broke with McCarthy, saying that the proposed independent commission should be narrowly focused on studying the January 6th Capitol riots (the commission was recently filibustered by Senate Republicans). McCarthy wanted a commission to include other types of political violence like the Black Lives Matter protests last summer.
These disagreements led McCarthy to announce that the House Republicans would hold a vote to remove Cheney as the House Republican Conference Chair. He said that he had lost confidence in Cheney being a leader because she was too busy litigating the past and distracting the party from unifying against President Joe Biden’s agenda. Many other Republican House members have expressed his sentiments, saying the party must be united in working with Trump.
Earlier in February, Republicans held a similar vote to oust Cheney from her leadership position due to her vote to impeach Trump. The vote failed 145-61 in a secret ballot, in part because McCarthy supported her. However, unlike last time, McCarthy was over her and Cheney was not whipping for votes.
Rep. Liz Cheney speaking at a Republican leadership press conference, with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy behind her.
In a voice vote, the GOP conference overwhelmingly voted to remove Cheney from her role as conference chair. Cheney, in her speech to her colleagues before the vote, reportedly said, “If you want leaders who will enable and spread his destructive lies, I’m not your person, you have plenty of others to choose from. That will be their legacy."
Republicans replaced Cheney with Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who was endorsed by McCarthy and Trump. Despite holding a much more moderate voting record than Cheney, Stefanik has turned into a staunch ally of the former President, vigorously defending him in his first impeachment and objecting to the certification of the electoral votes Joe Biden won.
After her removal, Cheney said that Stefanik and McCarthy were being “complicit” in the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen. In return, they responded by saying how Cheney was “looking backwards” and could say “whatever she wants” but that Republicans are unified in working with former President Trump.
“And I’m not willing to do that. You know, I think that there are some things that have to be bigger than party, that have to be bigger than partisanship. Our oath to the Constitution is one of those,” Cheney said in a TV interview after the removal vote.
Though Cheney may not have her leadership role anymore, the media coverage she has received from this has certainly given her a bigger platform. She has not been deterred in her mission of moving the GOP away from Trump, saying that she regrets voting for Trump and will do everything she can to stop him from getting near the White House in 2024.
Sources:
Breuninger, Kevin. "Rep. Liz Cheney urges Republicans to reject Trump 'cult of personality,' says 'history is watching.'" CNBC, 5 May 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/05/05/rep-liz-cheney- urges-republicans-to-reject-trump-cult-of-personality-.html.
Coleman, Justine. "Liz Cheney blames Trump for riots: 'He lit the flame.'" The Hill, 6 Jan. 2021, thehill.com/homenews/house/533024-liz-cheney-blames-trump-for-riots-he-lit-the-flame.
Moore, Mark. "Liz Cheney, Elise Stefanik take shots at each other over political allegiances." New York Post, 16 May 2021, nypost.com/2021/05/16/liz-cheney-elisa-stefanik-take-shots- at-each-other/.
Nobles, Ryan, and Manu Raju. "McCarthy tells GOP colleagues to 'anticipate' Wednesday vote on ousting Cheney." CNN, 10 May 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/politics/kevinmccarth y-liz-cheney/index.html.
Shabad, Rebecca. "McCarthy, Cheney clash over whether Trump should speak at CPAC." NBC News, 24 Feb. 2021, www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mccarthy-cheney-clash-over-
whether-trump-should-speak-cpac-n1258743.
Treene, Alayna, and Shawna Chen. "House Republicans vote to remove Liz Cheney from leadership." Axios, 12 May 2021, www.axios.com/liz-cheney-republican-leadership-vote-9274d8 ad-50b9-4442-af54-6225d277cbe0.html.
Wong, Scott. "Cheney breaks with McCarthy on scope of Jan. 6 panel." The Hill, 26 Apr. 2021, thehill.com/homenews/house/550255-cheney-breaks-with-mccarthy-on-jan-6-panel-scop e?rl=1.
Wong, Scott, and Mike Lillis. "GOP votes to replace Cheney with Stefanik after backing from Trump." The Hill, 14 May 2021, thehill.com/homenews/house/553507-stefanik-wins-race-to-
replace-cheney-after-backing-from-trump.
Images from above sources: in order of appearance top to bottom, left to right; Licensed Through Creative Commons
Shutterstock (https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/top-semiconductor-etfs-to-watch-amid-a-global-chip-shortage);
Reuters (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56798308);
The White House (https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-biden/);
The California State University (https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/news/Pages/CSU-COVID-Vax-Requirement-FDA-Approval.aspx);
The Hill (https://thehill.com/homenews/house/551791-gender-politics-hound-gop-in-cheney-drama);
Upcoming Online Events
Want something to do over the summer? BLS V.O.T.E would like to recommend the following online events for both students and faculty! They are all free to attend, and hopefully will be rather informative. Please let us know if there are any events you would like to recommend by emailing us at vote.bls@gmail.com!
In Dialogue: Smithsonian Objects and Social Justice (Thu, July 8, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM)
How do community gardens promote social justice and food security? Together with our co-hosts from Smithsonian Gardens, we will explore this key question about community gardens and food security in relationship to a (date) photograph of DeWitt Clinton Farm School in New York City, NY and a 2010 photograph of Alice Waters in in the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA .
Front Runners NY LGBT Pride Run: Running, Social Justice, and LGBTQ+ Rights (Wed, June 23, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM)
Front Runners New York and New York Road Runners are coming together to present a panel discussion on the intersectionality of running, social justice, and LGBTQ+ rights in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month and the 40th running of the Front Runners New York LGBT Pride Run®. Erica Edwards-O'Neal, Senior Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at New York Road Runners will lead a discussion with panelists Alison Desir, Chris Mosier, and Steve Gerben.
In Dialogue: Smithsonian Objects and Social Justice (Thu, August 12, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM)
How does multiraciality complicate what we understand about representation and race? Together with our co-hosts from the Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Center, we will explore this key question in relationship to a c.1929 drawing of Isamu Noguchi and a c.1960 movie poster of Nancy Kwan.
Still Thinking About the Pink Palace: The Politics of Queer Allyship (Thu, 24 June 2021, 1:00 – 2:00 PM)
From the standpoint of establishing a new means and methodology of analysing contemporary queer texts, with a specific interest in analysing often overlooked queer women and girls, this paper focuses on the representation of the queer woman ally using Russell T. Davies's recent Channel 4 series, It’s a Sin (2021). This paper considers the Gothic tropes inherent to most (if not all) brutally realistic depictions of the AIDS epidemic. However, this paper also considers the trope of the self-sacrificing and tragic woman best friend who appears in these narratives, situating the character Jill (played by Lydia West) in a genealogy of similar figures like Meryl Streep's character in the 2003 Stephen Daldry film The Hours, suggesting this figure to be a cinematic trope. Exploring Davies' characterisation in the broader context of representations of female allyship allows this paper to expound upon the complex gendered dynamics of queer kinship which, along with other areas of popular activism, is currently being attached to notions of "performative allyship".
Gratitude and Thanks
We want to extend our gratitude to our teachers at Boston Latin and BLS staff, especially Ms. Catherine Arnold, Ms. Martha Pierce, and Ms. Rachel Skerritt.
Contributors
More information can be found on the Staff page.
Megan Li
She/They
Co-President, Senior Editor, Senior Writer, Layout Editor
Albert Chen
He/Him
Co-President, Senior Writer, Senior Editor, Graphics
Joshua Rand
He/Him
Senior Writer, Senior Editor, Layout Editor
Alessandra Woo
She/Her
Layout Editor, Senior Writer, Editor
Royce Huynh
He/Him
Senior Writer
Kevin Zhong
He/Him
Associate Writer