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West Virginia Wants You

 A couple of weeks ago, the governor of West Virginia announced details on a program that would pay remote workers $12,000 if they moved there. The requirement is that you have a remote position at a job outside of the state. In the campaign for this program, they advertise West Virginia as a pristine, adventurous outdoorsy state just waiting for you to enjoy. I find this problematic in many ways. First of all, West Virginia is the poorest state in the country.  You cannot just move people who already have jobs into your state to fix your state...it will only raise housing costs of the people who already live there. How about investing in good-paying jobs to lift your constituents out of poverty? There is a reason people do not move there: https://www.wvpublic.org/news/2019-09-24/study-finds-west-virginia-counties-among-worst-in-nation-for-drinking-water-violations http://www.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CATF_FactSheet_HealthEffects_WV.pdf https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada
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Celebrities in Politics

       This week, former Olympian and reality television star, Caitlyn Jenner, announced that she is going to run for governor of California. This got me thinking about celebrities in politics. I did some research to see, historically, how they fared in elections.  Of course, we know how it ended for Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan.     Arnold Schwarzenegger ran and won the race for governor of California in 2003.   Cynthia Nixon of "Sex and the City" ran for governor of New York in 2018, but lost to Andrew Cuomo.  Roseanne Barr ran for president in 2012 and lost. Al Franken, who was a writer for Saturday Night Live, ran for U.S. Senate in 2008 in Minnesota and won. He also got reelected in 2014. While these are just a few examples, I was glad to see that in browsing celebrity websites for information, it seems that most celebrities who run do not just win because they are famous already. Although, it doesn't hurt. My worry is that attention from the media raises the famil
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The Gun Conversation is Happening Again

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  The past couple of weeks, the news media, politicians, and social media users have brought the conversation about guns and the 2nd amendment back to the forefront. This is due to multiple mass shootings that have happened in the country recently. It seems like this happens every year, or every couple of years. One or two mass shootings happen in America, for a few weeks politicians argue over gun rights and regulations, and then nothing really happens. However, this time, President Biden is planning to enact measures through the act of an executive order, which does not need approval from members of Congress. The administration has listed proposals for what they will bring to the table. But will this really change anything? I am worried that no matter the gun control law put in place, mass shootings will continue to happen. The recent mass shooters obtained their guns legally. Perhaps the conversation needs to be more in-depth. Why does this really  keep happening?
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Biden and the Press: His First Press Conference

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  This week, President Biden had his first official press briefing since his administration came into office. I thought I would compare and contrast it to the average Trump press briefing.  During the conference, the president talked about his new goals for Covid vaccinations, the economic stimulus bill that was passed, and answered questions regarding immigration and border control, voting rights, climate change, and the occupation of troops in Afghanistan. He was also asked about his promised bipartisanship with Mitch McConnell.  While speaking about these issues, Biden did not call anyone names. Trump would often question the intelligence of the reporters (mainly the female ones) when he was asked a difficult question or one he felt was 'threatening' to him. Biden did not make any grand promises that he knew he couldn't keep but was reassuring that the issues would be handled with care, compassion, and to the best of the administration's abilities. Trump would often
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What news source do you trust?

Earlier this week, I asked my friends and family on Facebook, “What news source do you trust the most?” I got some interesting answers.  My friends and family on Facebook are all over the political spectrum. So, I expected a variety of answers and hoped for no arguments (it is Facebook, after all). Here I will share some snippets of the comments.  Scotty said, “Great question.  If you watch a little CNN and then a little Fox News and then combine them, you probably get a true picture.” Daniel had a longer answer:  “Fox News is consistently known for avoiding real news, and repeating white nationalist and KKK propaganda. Especially Tucker Carlson. None of the American news paints a very truthful picture, and honestly some of our comedy 'news' programs are better news than many news stations. However, watching world news from other nations is probably the clearer picture overall. In particular, BBC and German news. But in general,  no matter what source, always double check credi
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Managing the Message

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I don't know of a politician who isn't guilty of occasionally spinning a story to put themselves in a better light to the general public. We just lived through 4 years of a man doing this every single week he was in office. And while I do believe the Biden administration has been much more up-front with the American people thus far, a story I saw circulating this week really caught my eye and in my opinion, is a great example of framing the message.  President Biden ordered an airstrike in Syria on an Iranian-backed military base on February 26th, which was all over the news, of course - a decision that was received with praise as well as backlash. However, the story this week paints the ordeal in a different light. Sure, the first airstrike occurred, but there was going to be a second.  Biden reportedly halted the second airstrike because he got word that a woman and some children were out in the courtyard of the base. What a great guy, what a humanitarian who cares about civi
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Media Literacy: A Cure for Internet-born Extremism?

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  With the rise of QAnon, the insurrection at the capitol, and far-right extremism seemingly at an all-time high, one has to wonder, why is this happening now? Of course, you could argue that the Trump administration gave a voice to these groups of people, which empowered them to take action and grow in numbers. There has also been evidence of more of a political and cultural divide now than the past few decades, which feeds into the animosity that some feel towards people who live differently. So, what can be done about the phenomenon of internet-born extremism?  It seems that we can not rely on the same federal intervention that keeps a close eye on foreign terroristic threats to take this domestic issue seriously.  However, there are experts studying how it might be prevented. One method that seems promising is to focus on media literacy. This has to be more than formal, school-based education (even though that is equally important to set a foundation of knowledge for our youth) --
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