Hurricane Harvey heading right toward Texas!

Satellite image of Hurricane harvey. 

     Southern Texas in danger as a category 2 hurricane is projected to hit before the weekend.

The National Weather Center is tracking Hurricane Harvey, a category 2 Hurricane with a predicted path heading toward Southern Texas. Mexico and bordering state Louisiana is predicted to be hit as well. 

Harvey has been growing but very slowly. Rainfall amounts increase when a storm moves slowly, causing days of rain and dangerous flooding.  The National Weather Center says some areas in Texas could get more than two feet of rain and some as little as a foot of rain. Also predicted is Harvey transitioning into a category 3 Hurricane before landfall. That’s a destructive storm bringing possible storm surges and over a hundred mile per winds.

There is a voluntary evacuation in order for Corpus Christi, a city in Texas where Harvey is expected to make landfall. People in Harvey’s predicted path are given the choice to leave or stay.  Emergency services could be limited and affected by the force of Harvey and that is why the evacuation order was issued.

Texas underwater caused by Hurricane Harvey.

 Residents taking the chance not evacuating are dealing with store shelves becoming bare as other residents are stock piling resources in preparation for the storm. Gas and water supplies are a necessity for survival and Texans are in frantic because supplies are diminishing. The residents evacuating are also experiencing difficulties. Ever since news was issued about the danger of the storm will bring, highways have been clogged and moving very slow.

Even though it’s a voluntary evacuation notice and not mandatory, Harvey brings great danger to the residents of Texas and surrounding areas. Predicted flooding and over one hundred mile per hour wind speeds will affect the areas in Harvey’s path.  People should evacuate or be very cautious during the storm and stay updated on the danger of the storm will bring.

After 3 months since Harvey made landfall on Texas. According to an article from The Balance, it caused $180 billion dollars in damages and affected 13 million from Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. And 82 people have died due to Harvey's impact. Hurricane Harvey has caused permanent damage to the areas it hit and will have affect on  people living in those areas for many years to come.

Hurricane Irma Hits Central Florida Hard!

     A Central Florida Street gives insight on going through Hurricane Irma and what it’s like living with no power from September 3 to September 10.

Satellite image of Hurricane Irma from NASA. 

“By walking down the street there was very little damage, some trees knocked down. The worst part of the storm was the loss of power” a resident of the street affected by the storm says.

No  serious damage to houses and no flooding damage either. The biggest issue the street residents faced was living a week with no power. They were apart of millions that Irma affected after the storm.

 The street is located in Brevard County and the county’s power is provided by FPL. With over half a million residents in Brevard and almost all residents without power after the storm, it was too much for FPL to handle. I talked with one person who had conflict with how FPL was handling the issue.

“I called (FPL) after the storm to report my outage. I got an automated message saying an estimate of two or three days and telling me to not report of an outage because they already know. A block away from us has power and here we are…no power. I felt like we could have been forgotten about”.

FPL has set a record with over 3 million customers without power after Irma hit according to an article on Florida Today, written by Dave Berman.

After a long hot week power did return to the street and surrounding areas. But troubles were still occurring. “I spent too much money on stuff I needed to live without power. I had to spend even more money replacing all the food in my refrigerator and freezer also.” another resident on the street explained how hard it was to come back after the storm.

Luckily, if you are low income and receive benefits you are eligible for some more government aid provided by FEMA and EBT/SNAP. Almost all the interviews I had with people who liv on the street says something about how difficult it was to handle all the perishable they had in their freezer of refrigerator. Some even said they just threw away all there cold or frozen food before the storm so they had less to worry about.

An article from Pundifact written by Miriam Valverdea stated that food companies issued warnings to Floridians was issued about frozen foods after the storm saying certain perishable foods could be poisoned if not refrigerated or kept frozen. Certain foods like milk, fish, eggs and chicken especially.

Even though the street and surrounding areas were returned power in what seemed like a long time, other areas in Florida are still without power. Thousands of FPL customers are still reported without power, according to a Sun-Sentinel article, written by Aric Chokey. Another person explains how the street shouldn’t think they got the worse of the damage;

“It was a week for people around here to get power and we think it was unbearable. It’s hard to think about all the people down south (Miami) dealing with almost a month of no power and flooding issues as well.”

An update to this article, according to an article from the Miami Herald Irma has caused almost $20 billion in damages and in an article from CBS reports that the impact from Irma has killed 69 in Florida. It will take many years for states affected by Irma to recover to a comfortable state.

FBI caught wire tapping Trump Tower.

President Trump and Trump campaign
member, Paul Manafort.

     The FBI is caught recording phone calls at the Trump Tower made by Trump Campaign member, Paul Manafort.

The recordings started around the beginning of the year, including times when Manafort was communicating with President Trump. Some information that was discovered through the secret recordings was communications with Russian officials before the election, encouraging them to help with the campaign. FBI investigators that are analyzing Russia’s involvement in the election are notified of the information learned from the phone call recordings.

Manafort had already been under investigation by the FBI under a FISA warrant in 2014 due to communication between Ukraine government officials. Investigation stopped however as there was lack of evidence to charge Manafort of any crimes.

The FBI was periodically seeking another FISA warrant to monitor Manafort. In August of 2016, FBI investigators obtained the FISA warrant to track Manafort because of the alleged ties Russians had on the presidential election. Along with the Trump Tower phone recordings, a search warrant was placed on one of Manafort’s storage facility early this year as well, information on what was found in the unit is not yet known. Manafort’s home in Virginia was raided as well, any information on that search is also not yet known.

James Comey, pictured above, was the director of the FBI
at the time the Trump investigation was happening.

Manafort has denied that he never communicated with Russian operatives during the election and also denies participating in any Russian efforts that would undermine the interests of the United States.  Before the election, In June of 2016 a meeting was led by Trump, including his son-in-law, Manafort, and a Russian lawyer. The lawyer was speculated to have negative information on Hillary Clinton. The FBI was not monitoring Manafort or Trump at this time and it’s unclear of the actual details discussed during the meeting. This prompted FBI officials to investigate Manafort more thoroughly.

Investigation still continues on Manafort and the FBI. If new information is gathered on the incident it could determine if Manafort or the FBI could be found partaking in illegal activities.

Difference in Bias with Hillary Clinton

     Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. She had many interviews with people from different political parties, from the beginning and end of her term.  Many of the interviews with her are fair but there were biased interviews in the span of her time being Secretary of State.

Former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger
and Hillary Clinton at the State Department
 in Washington, D.C. on April 20, 2011.

Jon Meacham held an interview with Henry Kissinger and Hillary Clinton for Slate Magazine; when she had just been appointed Secretary of State in 2009. The interview was about the specifics of Secretary of State, how the job impacts the U.S, and the stress of the “the job that requires 24-hour attention”; a segment Hillary said during the interview.

Even though the Hillary is a democrat and henry is a republican, the interview never turned into “my parties’ ideas are better” argument or discussion. Throughout the entirety of the interview were very fair, light questions asked by Jon.

But in the opening of the article Jon writes, “Two of the most prominent secretaries of state in recent history…” That statement caries some bias. Picking two individuals out of more than fifty previous Secretaries of State and saying “in recent history” that these are two the most famous has to raise an argument. An opposing or even part of the same party could see flaws in Hillary’s or Henrys tactics in defending the country and consider them poison to the American Government.

That bias in just the opening line was the only incident. Like mentioned before, the interview was not full of hard hitting or stressful questions. But, with Jon Meacham, saying that these are “two of the most prominent secretaries of state in recent history”, and then interviewing them show that Jon has respect for them and agrees with their ideas and tactics in performing their job. Maybe if Jon was interviewing a previous secretary of state that he disagreed with, he would have had different questions, or even hard hitting stressful questions for the person he didn’t favor.

Greta interviewing Hillary on Fox News in 2014.

Another interview Hillary had with Greta Van Susteren. The interview was found on Real Clear Politics website. This was in 2011, the middle of Hillary’s carrier as Secretary of State.

The interview was about the Egypt democratic reform that was going on at the time. How Hillary was planning to handle the situation. They discussed multiple outcomes coming out of the change to Egypt's government. How it could be beneficial or the change could lead to a radicalized government.

The interview has clear bias. Van is basically trying to convince her to side with his ideas. Hillary keeps bringing up the fact that people in Egypt really want political freedom. But van keeps bringing up slowly entering a democratic government and how the government won’t be strong and could cripple if not run right. Toward the end of the interview they both agree that they share the same passion to help Egypt. The  topic of Egypt is very important and not many leaders now and future one will have the same love for the topic as Van and Hillary do. Before reading the article and seeing two opposing people talking, I knew the bias, conflict; differing ways of solution would be there.

Van being a part of Fox news, which is known to have right wing bias and Hillary being known to have left views on topics this interview should be heated. But the interview was not as expected.  Van would ask how she would handle a certain situation and serve a rebuttal about how it could fail and then ask another question about what would happen if it would fail.

Hillary had an interview toward the end of her 4 years as Secretary of State in 2013 with Michele Kelemen, associated with National Public Radio. The interview was about recent events going on in 2013, like the Benghazi incident, and Syrian refugee bans.

The interview had question about hard hitting topics but weren’t asked to stress Hillary out. Even though the interview had stressful topics the tone was relaxed and stress free. Michele had no bias toward any side. Her questions were toward how Hillary is going to help resolve these issues that America is dealing with. Interview seemed to take the role of getting Hillary’s opinion on certain political topics and how she is handling the situation.

Janet Cooke, the Originator of Fake News?

            An article written in 1980 by Janet Cooke called Jimmy’s World was written to illustrate the effects heroin can have on individuals. But the article was fictitious, written just to obtain a high amount of viewers.

Some common news elements take place in the article making it very interesting. Just the title of the article can draw in anyone. The article is odd and has a shock factor on its viewers. They might not care about the heroin epidemic but an eight year old kid addicted makes me care about it. Also the area where Jimmy is said to live in the article may affect the residents living in the area. The time that it was written could have been a time where heroin was on the rise and people realized that it was bad and this article emphasized that feeling.

Some strength’s that support the article is the amount of quotes in the article. Not just from Jimmy’s family but from doctors and law enforcement. Make it seems like a lot of research had gone into the article. The emotional pull the article has is another way the article holds weight. It makes the reader cautious about themselves and loved ones. They don’t this happening to apart of their own family.

The article is very emotional and drew me in straight from the title. After reading it make me hate heroin, disgusts me. I wanted to do something about it, help little Jimmy or take his parents away. It would also get the attention of others like new stations. What new station wouldn’t contact Washington Post or Janet Cooke to do a report on this emotional story?

The time this article was written there could have been a heroin problem in the area of Washington making the story has some relevance. This story being so touching and informative about heroin and the effects it has on family could make The Washington Post a credible article. It could have been written to market them. News was slow and just constructed a story to stay relevant and stay on store shelves.

The article is very interesting but the back story is even interesting. Janet Cooke was looking to be hired by the Post when they were accepting African American writers. She lied about her credentials as a writer and also lied about the story to land the job, which she did. This wasn’t her first fictitious article and its very surprising that she wasn’t noticed earlier. 

Your Bias is Showing. A comparison Between News Stations Covering the Same Topic.

           

     Recently and throughout the past years, lots of dangerous attacks on the country have taken place. For example, the bombs set off during the Boston marathon and the car plowing through protesters in Virginia. President Trump thinks a majority of these attacks were constructed by rivaling nations in the Middle East. He then decided to issue a travel ban of all refugees or all peoples from certain Middle Eastern areas entering the U.S. Every new station was covering the specifics of the ban and gave their biased or unbiased opinion on what this ban affects the U.S. These articles are very similar in the information they feed us, but the political views are different and bias between each article influence how the telling of the story.

One news source reporting on the ban was the New York Times. The news source has a liberal influence on its viewers. The article is written in which every party member associated with constructing this travel ban and the ban itself is criticized. Constantly referring to how the lack of including Iraq in the bill is a mistake and getting opinions from just the opposing Republican Party. From start to finish this article it is clear the writers want to influence the readers that this travel ban has nothing but a negative effect on the country.

The next news source is CNN, and they reported on the issue. CNN is said to be biased but is said to be more supporting of the left. But this article is written much unbiased. CNN writers explain both sides, getting quotes from both sides of the party. On the removal of Iraq and targeting religious individuals, the writers explain why it was included in the first order and why it was taken out of the revised travel ban. Reading the article it didn’t have any bias at all. The article was written for the reader to form his/her own opinion and not have any influence on the reader.

Curious to see what an outside the U.S new source would have to say, the BBC wrote an article about the travel ban issue. BBC is unbiased but is criticized for having some left wing bias in certain events covered. This is an article written showing their left bias. Reviewing the BBC article it is similar to the New York Times. They explain all facts about the travel ban. But the tone of the article is negative. They don’t explain the positive reasoning behind the travel ban being placed. The BBC writers just criticize the ban and explain how it will hurt other nations and itself (U.S).

Fox news, a news source infamously known for being right wing also covered the travel ban. In their article, just like all the articles it explains the specifics first and then the tone turns toward their bias.  Fox writers only included quotes from republican defending the ban. Article coming from right wing republicans id expect it to be positive. After trump wrote the first travel ban it was criticized to be re-written. The writer in the article has an angry tone as if the first travel ban should not have been re-written. And how it’s the lefts fault for keeping danger out of the country and taking away the safety the right thinks the country needs.

Finally, NBC also covered the travel ban topic. NBC stories that are covered are generally favoring the left wing opinion or perspective. But just like the CNN article this is written with an unbiased tone. Sharing some quotes from both parties. Quotes explain how this could danger some refugees seeking help and also sharing how this is being put into place to protect people living in the U.S. During the time of the ban Trump called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. NBC writers explained why this could help with safety and how it hurts human rights.

Every article mentioned has influence on its readers. Whether it is trying to force its favorable point of view or trying to make the reader make a judgment themselves based on the information given. Every news source should be unbiased and present both sides so the reader can form an opinion. Be open to why a certain way of handling things may be better than what you believe in. But even that way of thinking can also lead to more judgment.