NYT Quiz 4

RIP. Still pretty bad. Welp. :(

Episode 1: Biden is Back

This week we will cover political action committees by looking into Biden's recent choice to upstart one himself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/us/politics/biden-to-create-a-political-action-committee-a-possible-signal-for-2020.html

Summary: Joseph R. Biden, former Vice President, plans to create "American Possibilities" political action committee (PAC) for the Democratic Party. This PAC will support two governor's races this November and future midterm elections. So far, he has been backed up with many aides through his past connections including Greg Schultz who played a crucial role in President Barack Obama's White House campaigns. According to this New York Times article, the creation of this PAC will keep open the prospect of Biden running for president a third time in 2020. However, that goes on unconfirmed.

Analysis: A political action committee (PAC) is an organization created with the sole purpose of raising. Before reading this article and researching more about PACs, I had thought little of how campaigning runs in the U.S. However after doing so, I found that PACs and their creations play a large role in affecting the perceptions of potential voters, basically garnering support for a political party. That's sweeping to know about because today, with two main political parties running the U.S. government, the more funding a campaign has, the more likely that the candidate will win the election. Putting that into perspective, the outcomes of both large scale and small scale campaigns all have some form of PAC back up to shift the number of seats either to the Democrats or the Republicans from provinces, counties, cities, and states which in turn affects the type of policies enforced and created: conservative or liberal. 

With Biden creating a new PAC to support Democrats, not only will this decision help solidify his own name on a potential presidential ballot but also help shift upcoming 2018 elections and beyond to the Democrats, affecting future policies and decisions made throughout the country on local, state and federal level. So essentially, PACs have been a silent but powerful overseer of campaigns almost, however, good thing is they cannot intrude into actual policy-making decisions. Our country's campaigns may have some or most of their aid from PACs but our country isn't allowed to be run by PACs, which helps us hold in our breakfast every morning. 

NYT Quiz 3

Results of quiz 3~

- I'm... getting better-ish. xD

Gynecology Scandal Aftermath at University of Southern California

U.S.C. President Agrees to Step Down Over Scandal Involving Gynecologist

"Brief" Summary: Two Fridays ago, University of Southern California's president Mr. Nikias resigns from office amidst the latest scandal allegations arising from Dr. Tyndall, the school's gynecologist, who is accused for harassing the University's students. Dr. Tyndall's incident has not been the first in such sexual misconduct. USC's medical school dean was involved in drugs and sex with prostitutes. The next incidence occured when the man that replaced the medical school dean sexually harassed a researcher. These events including Dr. Tyndall's scandal led faculty, alumni, and students to call for Mr. Nikias's resignation. The call for action was moved forward when 200 high-ranking professors signed a letter stating Mr. Nikias no longer had the "'moral authority to lead'" and had repeatedly failed to protect the university's students and faculty from "'pervasive sexual'" conduct. Mr. Nikias failed to make public the results of the investigation he had done on the USC's medical school dean incident. 

Analysis: what are your thought on the topic? How is this relevant to you? related to course?

I think the pushed resignation for Mr. Nikias is clearly justified. In more ways than one, how universities deal with their health and social problems from drugs to sex to alcohol and harassment and more actually set precedence for how both governmental and other established, esteemed institutions will deal with the same topic. When I say deal, I really mean the form of consequences that the university promises on delivery for certain types of misconduct, consequences that set a sort of standard for future rulings. 

One of the driving reasons that universities are huge players in setting society standards is because they contain millions of young adults who will become part of society soon after they graduate. Depending on how a university rules certain misconduct cases set the tone for how the student will perceive their world, their surroundings to be: if a university were lax on a clear sexual harassment or rape case where the harasser or raper was cleared after paying a fine and jailed for 6 months, then the student may feel the rest of the world does not take and charge such indecent acts seriously and that if, perhaps, the student were to practice such acts too, the cost of getting caught wouldn't be too high enough to not risk even. That is why Nikias's resignation holds higher moral ground. The victim's traumatizing experiences does not equate to a bail or to jail time less a number worth weight in years or a simple "walk-out" only to be replaced with someone else just as... sexually harassing. Especially if the victim is a young adult, a time equally as vulnerable and heavy in character development as his/her teen years, coming out of any sort of misconduct or being on the receiving end of any form of "misconduct" both physically and mentally.

In today's modern world where the call for human rights and equality are louder than ever, when it comes to sexual allegations not only is a public, thorough investigation needed, but it is the job of esteemed, credible people, citizens, even victims to come together and make sure plenty of weight and consideration and time is put into ruling such cases. Otherwise, the future's social environment will remain tolerant to such clear injustices, ruling cases with unequivocal consequences to the damage done. 

This was Ngoc. Your... thoughtful young reporter. ^_^

NYT Quiz 2

Hello there!

The results of Quiz 2 are out! 

Apparently, everyone else in the world is better than me. I've still got a long way to go. x'D

So.... hm. 8 more quizzes to go. 

Note: Finally updated my phone to get the latest notifications in news. 

Which... may or may not increase my grade. ^_^ 

Quiz 3 then.

- Ngoc