CNN 10 11/2/2020 ~ 11/6/2020

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Monday, November 2, 2020

England is considering new COVID-19 lockdowns for the nation proposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This comes after new rises in cases in that country, and the lockdown, which would not extend to other British divisions, would close all non-essential businesses. People would only be allowed to leave their houses for school, doctor visits, groceries, or outdoor exercise. This could be damaging to the British economy, and several other European countries have seen protests over lockdowns. Greece and Turkey experienced an earthquake on October 30th. It has killed many and injured hundreds more. The US elections process has changed over the years, and this year will bring more change. More people are voting early or by mail this year because of the pandemic - a full two-thirds of the total who voted in 2016. This year, we might not get election results right away because of the number of mail-in ballots. Each one has to be opened, checked, and counted by hand, and each state has its own regulations for doing this. Some states allow ballots to be opened early, while others allow ballots to come in even after polls close. Even after a winner is declared, Congress has to certify the vote count for the winner to officially be the next president. Yesterday morning, most states across the US switched back to standard time. Why do we do this? Daylight Savings Time was first implemented during World War I to make the most of the day, but since days are shorter during the winter months, we have to fall back to prevent waking up in the dark. Currently, all states except Arizona and Hawaii observe Daylight Saving.

The New Yorker: Are Asian Americans the Last Undecided Voters?

By Hua Hsu

    Politicians have tended to ignore the Asian American population in America, which has been steadily growing. They have done so because the group is very diverse, and it is believed that they are a political non-factor. Also, many communities were considered Republican because when they first arrived in the US, the Republican party was pushing hard anti-communist rhetoric along with a hard-work attitude, which appealed to many incoming immigrants. Recently, some Asian Americans have noticed the tightly-knit communities within their nationalities and wondered if they could pull those communities together for a strong national influence.

    The Asian American population has grown exponentially over the last two decades, and even more importantly most of them do not identify with any particular political party.

    The term "Asian American" covers anyone from over 20 different countries, each with different histories in the US, and even widely different levels of economic success. Because of these gaps, and the fact that many of these countries have a history with each other, it has been hard to get a hold of "Asian Americans", even though they are grouped under a single category. This reflects in the voter turnout of Asian American citizens. Since the 90s, there have been efforts to combine all of the individual communities into a single voter bloc, which has yet to manifest. These days, though, more people seem to be voting Democratic.

    Republicans were the first to understand that if they reached out to each of those individual communities, they could have a substantial impact on the election. In the early 2000s, many Asian Americans were elected to local seats in Orange County, California, and in the 2010s, the Republican Party decided that they were skilled enough to run for state seats, which they won. However, as Trump's blatant racism sped up to transition to Democrats, they began to take interest in minority groups. For example, an Asian outreach program by a first-time Texas Democrat nearly won him a seat in the state legislature.

    This election cycle, there are still efforts to mobilize Asian Americans and take them to the polls. But the leaders on the Republican side aren't sure whether they should endorse Trump. They're still Republicans, but they don't agree with the President. "'On the ground, there is so much doubt,' he said. 'On November 3rd, you will see what I’m talking about.'"

CNN 10 10/26/2020 ~ 10/30/2020

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Monday, October 26, 2020

Officials have finally tracked down a nest of Asian giant hornets in Washington state. The invasive species, which can kill a person or an entire beehive, showed up last year, and entomologists have been trying to track some back to their nest. First, they tried gluing it to one - it fell off; they also tried floss - that didn't work either. Finally, they used a combination of the two to get the tracker to stick. The nest was found on private property and vacuumed out. The fires in northern California have burned many homes, and a CNN Hero is donating RVs to help those in need. In fact, many firefighters have seen their homes burned down as they fight to rescue others, and they have received gifts as well.

World Series 2020: Tampa Bay Rays revel, Los Angeles Dodgers despair as Game 4 delivers baseball bliss

By Jeff Passan

    Just after midnight on Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays stole Game 4 of the World Series in the most ridiculous series of errors ever.

    Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had chosen to keep reliever Pedro Baez in after he blew a lead earlier in the game. The Dodgers had retaken the lead, but Baez blew it a second time, after which Roberts chose to use Kenley Jansen as his closer after a rookie finished the 8th, hopeful that Jansen could record a save and save his name. Classic example of the Dodgers' bullpen mismanagement.

    Jansen struck out the Rays' first batter, and the scattered Dodger fans at Globe Life Park came to life, hoping that this would put them up 3-1 and set up Clayton Kershaw to bring home the trophy. But it was not to be. Keiermaier hit a broken-bat single, Wendle flied out, and Arozarena was walked. With two outs and two on, Brett Phillips came up. Of course, no one was worried. Phillips was one of the only two batters remaining on the Rays' roster, and he hadn't gotten a single hit in the postseason in two at-bats. But none of that mattered when he hit a looping double just past the infield, which Chris Taylor, playing center field due to Cody Bellinger's bad back, bobbled. Keiermaier scored. The ball went to first baseman Max Muncy, who threw home to Will Smith. Perhaps if Smith knew that Arozarena had slipped, he wouldn't have been in a hurry. As it happened, he thought he had to hurry, and the ball slipped out of his glove. Arozarena scored, pounding home plate with his fist, and just like that, the series was tied.