Out of Our Element
Presidential candidates share post election plans
There is a lot of controversy surrounding both presidential candidates this year and it can be hard to really decide who to vote for, especially when you have to sort through all kinds of fake news to get to the policies the candidates are prioritizing. On each of the candidate’s websites, they have shared all of their plans post-election. Keep reading to see a summarized list of their goals. All of this information is coming directly from the candidates’ campaign websites, as well as all quotes.
Trump
Donald Trump is the current president of the United States. If re-elected, Trump has listed many things he prioritizes.
First up is COVID-19. The president’s intentions include developing a vaccine before 2020 ends and hopes to return to normal in 2021. Furthermore, he wants to “make all critical medicines and supplies for healthcare workers” and replenish supplies in preparation for future pandemics.
As for jobs, Trump has many things he hopes to accomplish, beginning with creating ten million new jobs in ten months, and creating one million small businesses. He intends to cut taxes and enact trade deals to protect American jobs. Along with all of this, he plans to “expand opportunity zones.”
Trump aims to end U.S. reliance on China by bringing back one million manufacturing jobs to the U.S. For companies who succeed in bringing back said jobs, Trump intends to create tax credits and “allow 100% Expensing Deductions for essential industries like pharmaceuticals and robotics who bring back their manufacturing to the United States.” Finally, he plans to end federal contracts with companies who outsource to China, and hold the country fully accountable for the spread of COVID-19.
It’s no secret that almost everyone in the country is concerned about the Black Lives Matter movement for one reason or another, whether that reason be concerns for equality or the protection of our police force. Trump focuses on the latter, announcing his plans to protect all police officers in the United States. In order to accomplish this, Trump intends to fully fund and hire more police officers, as well as law enforcement officers.
Trump’s campaign has almost always been supported by his ideas to end illegal immigration. For his second term, Trump intends to keep American businesses from replacing American workers with cheap immigrant workers, require that new immigrants be capable of supporting themselves financially before they can enter the U.S., bring an end to sanctuary cities, and “block illegal immigrants from becoming eligible for taxpayer-funded welfare, healthcare, and free college tuition.” Furthermore, Trump hopes to end human trafficking networks and establish mandatory deportation of gang members who are illegal immigrants.
The president plans to establish an “America first foreign policy” by stopping “endless” wars and bringing the troops from America home, bringing an end to terrorist groups that threaten the U.S., and continuing to build and maintain America’s “unrivaled” military.
When it comes to progressing the country, Trump has some goals. He hopes to set up a partnership with other countries in the cleaning of the ocean, “win the race to 5G” and succeed in setting up a high-speed wireless network nationwide, “build the world’s greatest infrastructure system,” and continue to supply the world’s best access to clean drinking water and air. Furthermore, Trump has several goals purely dedicated to development in space, consisting of establishing the presence of man on the moon permanently, sending the first mission to Mars that is manned, and launching a space force.
Trump aims to “drain the swamp” or remove from office politicians he believes do not have the interest of the American people at heart. To accomplish this, he will pass limits on Congressional terms, end the “bullying” of U.S. citizens and small businesses by bureaucratic government, delegate the power back to the states and the people while exposing Washington’s “money trail,” and “drain the globalist swamp by taking on international organizations that hurt American citizens.”
Finally, Trump wants to protect American values by “supporting the exercise of second amendment rights,” restricting abortion, maintaining the freedoms of religious believers and organizations, and continuing the to nominate “constitutionalist supreme court and lower court” judges.
If you would like to read more about Trump’s plans for his second term, click here.
Biden
Former Vice-President Joe Biden has multiple steps to his plan to help move the country past COVID-19. First, he will ensure that all Americans have easy access to testing that is regular, free, and reliable. Some of the ways he intends to accomplish this is by doubling the number of drive-through testing sites and investing in next generation testing, including tests that can be done at home and show results instantly.
Secondly, Biden says he will provide “clear, consistent, evidence-based national guidance” to help the country navigate through the pandemic as well as resources to assist schools and businesses in reopening.
The rest of Biden’s COVID-19 plans consist of fixing issues, such as shortages, surrounding personal protective equipment (PPE), planning out how to effectively distribute the vaccine once it is discovered, protecting high-risk Americans, and implementing a nation-wide mask mandate. Finally, Biden hopes to “Rebuild and expand the defenses that Trump has dismantled to predict, prevent, and mitigate pandemic threats, including those coming from China.”
When it comes to helping the American people bounce back after loss of jobs and a crash in the economy, Biden aspires to “create millions of good-paying jobs” as well as “give America’s working families the tools, choices, and freedom they need to build back better.” Biden says that, upon taking office, he will “provide further immediate relief to working families, small businesses, and communities” by aiding state, local, and tribal governments in bringing an end to laying off essential workers, continue helping those out of worker by extending COVID crisis unemployment insurance, and “providing a comeback package for Main Street businesses and entrepreneurs.”
Furthermore, Biden intends to bring home essential businesses in order to keep the U.S. from being dependent on other countries, “build a 21st century caregiving and education workforce which will help ease the burden of care for working parents,” fix the wealth gap between races, reverse some of the tax-cuts Trump has given to large corporations and make sure the wealthy people are paying their “fair share” in taxes, and more.
When it comes to healthcare, Biden promises to protect the Affordable Care Act as well as expand on the act in order to give Americans more choice in public health insurance, reduce the costs of healthcare, and make the healthcare system more easily navigated. He aims to give Americans easier access to affordable healthcare and expand the healthcare coverage to low-income Americans.
Biden’s plans for solving systemic racism in the United States consists of bringing an end to the racial wealth and income gaps, tackling the racial inequality that inhabits the U.S. education system, terminating the health disparities between race, strengthening the American commitment to equal justice, ensuring the right to vote and the right to equal protection is “real” for African Americans, and addressing injustice environmentally. He also intends to bring more equality to the LGBTQ+ community by bringing an end to discrimination against them, supporting young members of the LGBTQ+ community, protecting these individuals and bringing an end to the “epidemic of violence” effecting the transgender community, enable LGBTQ+ individuals to get high quality healthcare, ensure equal treatment of these people in the justice system, and advance all of these things globally.
“There is no greater challenge facing our country and our world” than climate change, says Joe Biden. He has a goal of getting the U.S. to 100% clean energy and net zero emissions by no later than 2050. In order to accomplish this, Biden promises to make Congress enforce milestone targets by no later than the end of his first term in 2025, invest historic amounts in clean energy, climate research, and climate innovation, and “incentivize the rapid deployment of clean energy innovations across the economy, especially in communities most impacted by climate change.”
Furthermore, Biden hopes to “build a stronger, more resilient nation” when it comes to climate change as well as rally the rest of the world in facing the crisis.
There is quite a bit more to Biden’s plans for the country. To read about it, click here.
Students share favorite Halloween pastimes
Although Halloween may not be the same as every other year, new and fun Halloween memories can still be created! However, instead of thinking about Halloween potentially being “cancelled” or not being as fun, it's important to remember all the good moments from past Halloweens. It's always healthy to reminisce and laugh about the good ol’ days.
Senior Timothy Trowbridge says, “Two years ago, I was dressed up and handing out candy to kids as a church activity”. And by "dressed up," he meant totally strutting his feathers in a chicken outfit.
Sophomore Harley Daniels happily remembers “When I dressed up as an avatar for a school dance."
Sophomore Alyssa Davis says, “Growing up it was kinda like a tradition that my grandma would give each of us kids popcorn balls, we eat them and then take a picture in our costumes together.”
Amy Coney Barrett confirmed, and other news
The Senate has pushed Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, and she was officially sworn in on October 27, 2020. Barrett’s confirmation was narrow, 52-48, with only one Republican voting against her, that being Senator Susan Collins from Maine. The Supreme Court now has six conservative justices and three liberal ones.
Many people are concerned that Barrett will work to overturn key cases that guarantee protection for LGBT+ people and people of color, as well as Roe vs. Wade. Another concern is that since Barrett was nominated by Trump--should the Supreme Court have to make rulings on the election, some worry she will rule in favor of Trump regardless of the actual results. That in turn may lead to the restriction of voting rights. People are also concerned about a case set to be heard by the Supreme Court that could end the Affordable Care Act, which might prove to be a dangerous move in the middle of a pandemic.
Immediately following Barrett’s confirmation by the Senate, prominent progressive Democrats such as Representative Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted out a single phrase, “Expand the court.” This is an idea that has gained traction since it was announced that the Trump administration planned to fill Ruth Bader-Ginsburg’s seat. The idea behind it is quite simple. If the Republicans are going to reverse their position from 2016, then Democrats are going to counteract it by increasing the seats on the court.
The number of justices on the court has changed many times over the years, for reasons political and practical. Currently, most supporters of the idea are suggesting the number be changed to 13 Justices, to match the number of appellate courts, the level of the Judicial system directly below the Supreme Court. Senator Elizabeth Warren has said the idea is “about depoliticizing the Supreme Court.”
Presidential Candidate Joe Biden has not committed to either opinion. Biden has instead promised to set up a bipartisan commission to analyze the court and recommend changes.
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The presidential and vice-presidential debates have come and gone. The first presidential debate was marked by the candidates talking over each other, interrupting at every turn. The moderator had little control over the situation. The second debate was delayed by President Trump’s diagnosis with COVID-19, as there were concerns about him still being contagious. Since President Trump refused to participate in a virtual debate, the second and final presidential debate was delayed. That time, the candidates’ mics were muted until it was their turn to speak. The candidates were given the opportunity to respond to their opponent, which was limited to thirty seconds.
The vice-presidential debate was a bit more controlled, although there were still many interruptions, primarily from Vice-President Pence. Many times, Kamala Harris said “I am speaking,” during her response.
One key moment from the Vice-Presidential debate that caught the eyes of social media was that a fly landed on Vice-President Pence’s head during the debate. To be clear, we are not talking about a viral picture of a fly landing on a tv screen, a fly actually landed on Pence’s head at the debate, and stayed in his hair for two minutes.
Pence later laughed about the incident on Fox News, saying his kids immediately told him after the debate was over. Biden's campaign was also quick to react, selling flyswatters on their campaign store. Halloween wigs, bobbleheads, and social media accounts also quickly popped up.
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As of October 27, 2020, two COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for use on humans. One from Russia, entitled Sputnik-V, was approved on August 11. That one was approved by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and developed by Gemlaya Research Institute in Moscow. The second one was also developed in Russia, and is called the EpiVacCorona. Both vaccines have regulated approval, but both skipped phase Three Trials,
Now, COVID is a global health crisis, and with researchers around the globe working on it, it is to be expected that progress on this vaccine is faster than previous vaccines for other diseases. However, experts are concerned about the safety of the Russian vaccines as they skipped human trials.
There is another treatment that has made the news. Regeneron’s experimental antibody cocktail. It first came to national attention when President Trump received it as a part of his treatment plan. Other studies have indicated that the Regeneron Treatment boosts immune responses in COVID patients. The main hope is that it will prevent minor cases from becoming severe.
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As the second wave of COVID hits Europe, many countries that had loosened restrictions are now reversing those decisions. France declared a national lockdown on October 28, 2020. On the same day, Germany announced they would be moving to a “lockdown lite.”
Currently, the goal is to slow the spread as much as possible without crashing the economy as happened previously in Europe. The new restrictions may be necessary, as the rate of infection on the continent has tripled over the last month. Hospitals all across Europe are filling rapidly. This time, the mortality rate is much lower, but many countries are still reporting their highest death toll in months, including France, Spain, Italy, Britain. This is France's highest toll since April, and the highest toll since March for Britain and Italy.
On October 30, 2020, everything in France closed except for schools and essential businesses, which will close December 1. Some of businesses in France staying open include public services, construction, factories, and farming. All public and private gatherings are to be banned, with movement in and out of one's home France has the harshest new restrictions of the European countries, as their in-hospital death toll was 288 the day before the new protocols were announced.
In Germany, bars and restaurants closed November 1, and will remain closed for at least one month. Salons, theaters, gyms, and spas will also be closed, possibly for longer. Schools will remain open, at least for now.
Longtime Minnesota Sports Columnist Sid Hartman Passes at Age 100
By: Emily Mathews
Minnesota’s legendary sports columnist and radio personality Sid Hartman passed away at the age of 100 on Sunday, October 18th.
“My father’s extraordinary and resilient life has come to a peaceful conclusion surrounded by his family.” Chad Hartman (Hartman’s son) tweeted at 2:04 PM on October 18th.
Fans from all over the world are devastated and mourn the death of Hartman. Athletes, Coaches, and executives remember his ability to build and maintain relationships. One of those athletes happens to be Minnesota Vikings head Quarterback Fran Tarkenton.
“He’s the greatest journalist, most honest, forthcoming, sports journalist that I’ve ever known,” Tarkenton said. “He could get an interview with anybody.”
During the Kansas City Chiefs VS. Buffalo Bills game on October 19th, one of the announcers said, “If Hartman called you, you would put everything to the side to talk to him.”
Hartman's first column was published in 1945. “He kept up his age-defying pace even after his 100th birthday party on March 15 was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hartman continued to write three columns per week for the Star Tribune as a centenarian, four during football season, and served as co-host of a Sunday morning radio show on WCCO-AM in Minneapolis.” an ESPN News Service Writer wrote in “Longtime Minnesota sports columnist Sid Hartman dies at 100”
For seven decades, Hartman served as the “radio and print voice of Minnesota sports.” He is known for leading the Lakers to Minneapolis. Hartman covered NBA stars in Minneapolis for years. From George Mikan to Karl-Anthony Towns.
While Hartman was still developing his career and overseeing most of the basketball operations, he was slowly putting together and working as a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
In remembrance of Hartman's tribution and hard work, fans and athletes from all over the world are sharing their favorite memories throughout Sid´s writing and basketball coaching years.