Gun control is a topic that has come up time and time again in our country. The recent shooting in San Bernardino has people asking the question: should there be stricter, more effective laws on guns in this country? My answer is yes.

The way I see it, it is obvious that our current laws are making it too easy for the wrong people to get the right weapons. These weapons are giving people the opportunity to take innocent lives, like in the San Bernardino shooting, the AME church shooting, and the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting. Although not all shooters purchase the guns themselves and there are other guns can be acquired, strengthening our laws will make it harder for those who want to cause harm to go through this process.

Firearms can be helpful in many situations. Being able to defend yourself against someone who is breaking into your house or attacking you on the street is not something we can simply take away from the American people, but we need to have laws in place that require all places that sell guns to have mandatory background checks. I believe laws like that will cut down on the current gun violence. Some places do not require these, and they also neglect to run follow up checks. Mental health screenings would also be helpful in the efforts to cut down on shootings across the country.

Many of the shooters in these tragic events have been found to be “mentally unstable.” If a proper mental health screening had taken place while they went through the process of purchasing a firearm, these shootings could have possibly been prevented.

Background checks, mental health screenings, frequent follow ups on gun owners, and only offering certain types of weapon to civilians are some ways that we can cut down on gun violence. What does a civilian need with an automatic weapon?

Gun control would help to make this country a safer place. If we knew that not just anyone could purchase a gun or any other weapon that would cause more harm than good, it would ease the minds of American people. It would make our country even stronger.

The Necessity of Strengthening Gun Control Laws

By: Lena Bobo

Features Editor

Planned Parenthood’s Vital Place in American Society

By: Victoria Hall

Business Manager

The Planned Parenthood attack that occurred on Nov. 27 has shown that many people don’t understand why Planned Parenthood is a vital company for many American individuals. There has been a constant debate this year on whether or not to defund the company. The Planned Parenthood Company’s main goal is to provide affordable healthcare as well as educate people on safe sex.

Planned Parenthood helps to prevent about 500,000 unintended pregnancies every year. Most people against Planned Parenthood assume that this is all through abortion, but abortions only make up three percent of their services yearly. Planned Parenthood prevents most pregnancies before they happen by educating people about practicing safe sex.

Planned Parenthood does not only help prevent pregnancies, but they provide many services at an affordable price for those who don’t have insurance as well. One of the services they provide is cancer screenings, such as pap smears and breast exams. This is so important for those in poverty because without health insurance they would not be able to afford these basic healthcare requirements.

Planned Parenthood also provides tests for STI’s (sexually transmitted infections) as well as treatments for them. They pride themselves on educating people on how to prevent the spread of STI’s. These services are provided by Planned Parenthood for anyone who needs them, male or female, young or old.

Defunding Planned Parenthood would remove the option of affordable healthcare for many people. It would also prevent the reproductive education that many people need. The lack of understanding that people have of the modern Planned Parenthood Company prevents people from seeing the good they do in helping those who do not have the funds to afford healthcare.

Before we decide whether or not to defund Planned Parenthood, we should look at the effects it would have on individuals who cannot afford healthcare who deserve to have an affordable place to visit in order to maintain their personal health.

Point - Counter Point

Is Trump Legitimate?

Over the past year, America has been struck by a media phenomenon. With lines blurred between politics and entertainment, Donald Trump has boldly strutted into the middle of the American political arena. But who, or what, dwells within that stretched out bag of poorly spray tanned skin topped with that iconic bleach blonde wig, and what are the ethics surrounding including him in our media?

Trump relies on his capacity to entertain. This has always been the source of Donald Trump’s success. As a businessman, if anything Trump was, at best, marginally successful. What he did achieve in the field of real estate was handed to him by his mogul father. Even in real estate, Trump captured the public’s attention with outlandish construction projects and a sort of brash shamelessness normally only displayed by third world dictators.

As his projects began to fail, Donald Trump’s success was no longer contingent on

his personal fortune or the returns to his investors, but in his persona. By then, Trump was on the cover of Time Magazine, in reality television, and his name was well on the way to making its way into the American vocabulary as synonymous with excess.

As much as it pains me to admit it, Donald Trump is no longer a joke. As recently as Nov. 18, a poll conducted by Reuters reported that Trump currently holds 37% of the GOP vote, clearly positioning him as the lead republican candidate, making the possibility of a Trump presidency very real.

Trump 2016 has captured a dangerously reactionary current in our society. Even mainstream republicans, like Marco Rubio’s advisor Max Boot, have begun to publicly label Trump as a fascist. This is not to accuse Trump of being an anti-Semite, a Nazi, or any of the images that capture our society’s image of fascism, but of using racist rhetoric to justify policies of violence, the sum of which are equated to fascism.

With Far-Right parties gaining ground across Europe and in America, it is clear that we are facing another resurgence of the same kind of reactionary populism that fueled the rise of fascism in Europe more than a half century ago. Trump’s supporters form a dangerous and hateful group, moving other GOP candidates in want of votes farther and farther right on the sliding scale between conservatism and fascism in pursuit of the demographic Trump has conquered. The result is an American right that has begun to advocate for more and more violence and employ more and more rhetoric, and the result of this rhetoric has already made itself clear.

Police in Boston say that one of two brothers who allegedly beat a homeless Hispanic man cited Trump’s message on immigration as a motivation for their attack. “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported,” Scott Leader, 38, told officers, according to a police report cited by The Boston Globe. Connections could not be clearer between Donald Trump and hate, and yet we continue to treat him as a legitimate candidate for our highest office.

On Nov. 21, after his supporters assaulted a “Black Lives Matter” protester at a presidential rally the day before, Trump defended his supporters on the popular cable news show “Fox and Friends”, claiming “maybe he [the protester] deserved to get roughed up.” This violent backlash encouraged by Trump against dissenters from his movement tiptoes over to the extreme right wing, opposing freedom of speech as well as any pretense of democracy.

The policies Donald Trump has embraced that are most clearly fascistic specifically target immigrants. Trump’s has long voiced support for an unprecedented program of mass deportation that has been described as “ethnic cleansing” by conservative Washington Post columnist George Will. Trump suggested a database specifically tracking Syrian refugees in America be made at a Nov. 21 rally in Birmingham, Alabama, and, while he has not begun actively supporting a database for American Muslims be made, he made it clear in his speech that such a database was a possibility. Most radically, Trump seeks to change the Fourteenth Amendment to eliminate birthright citizenship. Trump reduces the elimination of corruption and poverty into the simple matter of excluding “undesirables”, whether they are immigrants, Muslims, or some other minority group. Trump makes politics simple, employing what Umberto Eco described in his 1995 essay “Eternal Fascism” as selective populism, dividing Americans into two categories: us and them.

Fascism is an infection, and, like all infections, it must be purged swiftly and without hesitation. If not, the consequences could be catastrophic. As journalists, as students, and as citizens it is our responsibility to prevent the rise of the radical right in America. Every shred of legitimacy we grant Trump or his supporters only goes to bolster his position. We must stand in clear opposition to Donald Trump and not allow Trump supporters to echo his rhetoric of half truths without consequence, we must say no to hate. Not in our classrooms, not in our homes, and not in our country.

If you know anything about me, you probably know my feelings about Donald Trump. He’s pompous, egotistical, racist, arrogant, and obnoxious. The idea of him as the leader of the free world makes my skin crawl and consider moving to Canada. However, I acknowledge the possibility of this reality. Trump is currently the leading Republican candidate, holding approximately 29 percent of the vote. With the closest candidate at about 16 percent, it’s more likely than not that Trump will be the Republican candidate.

Donald Trump is not a politician, he’s a businessman. Unlike most of his fellow candidates, he’s never held a seat in office. This is one of the reasons why he’s getting so much attention from voters and the media. Another reason is because of his demeanor and personality that he has displayed in the previous GOP debates. He has openly criticized other candidates, politicians, journalists, and even celebrities such as Rosie O’Donnell in ways that shock the viewers. Each time he says something offensive, racist, or just plain shocking, he attracts a thousand more viewers interested in listening to what he has to say. Trump has acknowledged this. “Every time things get worse, I do better.”

Trump said at rally in Mississippi according to Breitbart news. People love that he isn’t afraid to say what he’s thinking, especially when it’s something the viewers are thinking themselves.

Trump is seen by many as a joke. His lack of a filter, and outlandish ideas causes laughter among potential voters. I am not denying the absurdity of his plans to keep out all immigrants, but I acknowledge that they are not jokes. Though he loves cracking jokes and making sarcastic remarks, his ideas to “make America great again” are no laughing matter. We can be humored by his bleached blonde hair and his resting angry face, but we must remember that his plans are real and if he ever steps foot in the Oval Office, he will set those plans into motion immediately.

Because Trump is running for president, he is constantly being covered by the media all over the country. Each time you turn on the TV, he’s most likely on at least three different stations. The same goes for anyone else that ever has or ever will run for president. However, because of Trump’s personality and lack of political experience, he tends to get more attention than the average candidate. It’s much more interesting to watch Donald Trump yell at a reporter than it is hearing about Jeb Bush’s tax plan.

Some people believe that journalists should stop reporting on Trump because he’s offensive and already gets too much attention. I disagree with that. I believe that anyone trying to run for president should be constantly watched and reported on by the media. Regardless of how farcical his interviews and campaign might be, he still has every right to be blowing up the media as any other candidate.

It does not matter how much some of us may dislike Donald Trump. He is still a candidate, a leading candidate in fact, and has every chance of winning the election. It is a journalist’s duty to report on important issues and events going on around the world, and right now, it’s Donald Trump’s campaign. These reports can be in favor of his campaign or against, as long as they have facts and evidence to back them up. I will absolutely admit my strong dislike of Trump as I have in the past, but as a journalist it is my job to write about him. We cannot patronize him or his campaign just because we don’t agree with it or find it humorous. He has every right to the media as any other candidate, whether it’s used for his advantage or disadvantage.

Donald Trump, though laughable, obnoxious, and arrogant, is a legitimate candidate. It is incredibly possible that he will be the Republican candidate, and eventually win the entire election. We do not have to agree with him or his ideas, but we have to agree that his campaign his real and he has every intention of winning. It’s not going to be funny some day when future students are learning about president Trump in their history books, so the time to stop laughing is now.

It’s time to accept that Donald Trump is a legitimate candidate in the 2016 election. We do not get to choose which candidates are legitimate based on our like or dislike for them. Legitimizing his campaign does not in any way mean we have to support or agree with it, it just means we acknowledge that he has a chance just like everybody else of winning, and considering him a real candidate and not as a joke with a bad comb over.

By: Benjamin Henderson

Opinion Editor

YES

Miriam Sponsler

Editor-in-Chief

Country music says it all; heartbreak, love, cheating, pain and joy are just a few of the emotions conveyed through this genre. However, sitting in Salem’s parking lot, pop and rap are heard more often than country. It is gaining some popularity in Michigan, but many still think that country is just trucks and beer, even though it consists of so much more than that.

Country music made its start in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1920s. It has gone through many stages and pulls styles from a variety of different genres like the blues, folk, bluegrass, western, rock, pop, and now even rap. The best way to define country music is the music has to tell a story.

Country can have some fun songs that are just about trucks and beer like Luke Bryan’s hit “That’s My Kind of Night”, but so many songs and artists go deeper than that.

Garth Brooks, the king of country music, is one of those artists. He didn’t just earn his title for nothing; his songs connected to people like “The Dance” which explains a lost love, and his best song, “The Thunder Rolls” with an amazing guitar line and a story about a cheater. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Garth Brooks has the second most albums sold, 136 million units, only behind The Beatles. This shows the impact of good country music.

Any type of country band can prove people wrong if they think country is simple. Lady Antebellum has given the mass hit “Need You Now”, but their newer songs including “747” and “Just a Girl” has intricate harmonies and amazing lyrics. Some other of the best bands are Rascal Flatts, Gloriana and Little Big Town. With any of these bands, their lyrics tell stories that everyone can relate to, and their harmonies are impossible to find anything like it in any other genre of music.

Another misunderstanding: country is all white men. It can appear that way sometimes, but many great artists do not fit that mold.

Country has been dominated by strong women like Carrie Underwood, who is the prime example of a true storyteller. “Storyteller” is actually the name of her brilliant new album which solidifies her spot as one of the best country singers and shows her ability to evoke universal emotions. Dolly Parton released a country song in 1974 entitled “I Will Always Love You” which became a huge crossover hit. Whitney Huston then made a cover of the song which spent 14 weeks as number one on Billboard Top 100. The success of this song proves that almost everyone can identify with country, not just rednecks.

Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and Jennifer Nettles, lead singer of Sugarland who recently released a solo album, have paved their way in country through their no-nonsense songs about love, heartbreak and cheating. Miranda Lambrert’s hit “Mama’s Broken Heart” sassed up country and shows that girls don’t always have to do what they are expected to. Reba and Jennifer Nettles have a duet called “Enough” that shows the pain from both sides of being cheated on. They have shown all the sides of being a woman and all the emotions that come with it.

Two other singers don’t fit the white male mold: Darius Rucker and Mickey Guyton. Darius Rucker, an African-American male and former lead singer of the ‘90s rock band Hootie and the Blowfish, transitioned into country producing songs like “Wagon Wheel” and “Miss You”. Mickey Guyton has an empowering song reflecting on her experiences about how women can get stronger after a break-up called “Better than You Left Me”.

All these artists and songs have one thing in common: they tell a personal story that almost everyone can identify with. So next time a song about trucks and beer plays on the radio, remember that is only a tiny aspect of country music, because the genre has so much more to offer emotionally and lyrically.

Country Music: The Misunderstood Genre

By: Genevieve St. Jean

News Editor

Hannukkah: What it's all About

By: Liz Perry

Sports Editor

With the holidays drawing near, many have started getting into the holiday spirit. With Christmas being one of the most festive holidays of the year, many people assume that Hanukkah is just as festive. It is happily celebrated by many followers of the Jewish faith, but to Jewish people those eight days of lights are just like any other day on the calendar. But this holiday isn’t the most important on the Jewish calendar. Jewish children in the public school system don’t receive days off and many adults still go into work.

Over many years, this small Jewish holiday has become widely observed, especially by many Americans. With Hanukkah being so close in date to Christmas, the holiday has given many Jewish children the chance to have something in common with their Christian friends, classmates and neighbors. But gift giving was also not an important aspect of Hanukkah until it was Americanized; parents give their children gifts to keep them from chasing after Christianity, to let them know that their faith is just the same and they shouldn’t abandon their rich heritage.

There are many great aspects of Hanukkah that everyone can appreciate, like Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song”, chocolate coins and eight straight days of fun. An ugly sweater website, called Tipsy Elves, is also selling Hanukkah sweaters and other products--including the sweater Seth Rogen wears in the new holiday movie “The Night Before”. I have fond memories of spending time with my family, lighting the menorah and eating as much kugel (a pasta dish with cinnamon) as my heart desired. Helping to light the menorah as a kid was really cool because it made me feel like one of the adults, saying a candle blessing, even though you have to finish your kugel at the kids’ table. Whether it’s getting to spin the dreidel with your favorite cousin or counting how many times news reporters will mispronounce “Hanukkah”, there are still many memories to be made.

The story of Hanukkah can easily be forgotten, just as the story of Christmas can be forgotten due to the desire for gifts, cookies, decorations, or the perfect family vacation. The story of Hanukkah is about how the Israelites take back the temple in Jerusalem from being taken over, while the eternal flame of the temple, which only had oil to burn for one day, burned for eight. So a new celebration was created, the festival of lights.

Even though traditions have changed over the years, especially with Hanukkah, “the Christmas effect”/American commercialization does shed some positive light. In a country like this, many are brought together to celebrate something they normally wouldn’t have due to parties, new friends, etc. Even though Jewish culture may be misrepresented by commercialization, it is nice to see many come together for the holidays.

These days, American parents are faced with a stark choice: what is the best environment to educate their child? The country’s public schools are becoming more crowded, more violent and less effective in preparing children for college and employment. Private schools are too expensive and therefore are not affordable for most families. While homeschooling offers many benefits, its most important advantages are its flexibility of schedule and curriculum, its adaptability to different learning styles and speeds. It also has a more positive and supportive social environment.

First of all, the home-school curriculum can be tailored to suit the needs and interests of a child. A curriculum designed around the interests of a particular child is an enormous asset in education. If for instance, a child is interested in dinosaurs, that subject can be used to teach scientific concepts from geology, biology, or even history. Moreover, in the home environment, there is plenty of room for spontaneous discussions, impromptu field trips, and other hands-on learning experiences that traditional classroom logistics, make difficult, expensive, or even challenging.

In addition, homeschooling enables a flexible schedule. The children are not forced to wake up early in the morning, to catch the bus, or rushed to school by the parent. They can pick their own schedule, which definitely, is less stressful for the entire family.

Furthermore, everyone learns in different ways and at different rates. Some students are auditory learners; some are kinesthetic. Certain students have very long attention spans and some can hardly sit still. The home classroom, however, adapts to individual learning styles. Children can move through the material at a rate which challenges them positively. In the conventional classroom, most lessons are aimed at the middle level of ability. Thus, some students are rushed along much faster than optimal, or faster than necessary, for satisfactory results, while others yawn or find distractions because the pace is too slow.

In addition, in a traditional school setting, thirty or more students are assigned to a teacher. Therefore, usually, the teacher cannot devote full attention to any single child, since it will not be fair to the rest of the class. Plus, it is quite impossible to provide individual attention to all the students in a limited amount of time. However, the parent at home, who knows the child better than any teacher, can readily make adjustments to the content, teaching strategy, or pace, as the child requires.

The final, important advantage of homeschooling, lies in the positive socialization that the children are able to receive. Students are pushed to be “on target” for the skills, within a specific time frame, irrespective, of their cognitive abilities. For many families, the pressure of homework strains family time. Children cannot attend a family dinner or the event of a sibling, because there is homework or a project that needs to be finished by the next day. Homeschooling takes the pressure off, in this regard.

Homeschooled children are less subject to the stresses and pressures experienced by conventional students who spend six, seven, or eight hours a day with their peers. In traditional schools, children feel pressurized to wear the ‘right’ clothes, to have the ‘right’ smartphone, to have the ‘right’ music, and even have the ‘right’ friends, so that they are not labeled as the ‘rejected’ group. Stepping outside the traditional school setting takes that sort of peer pressure off the children.

On the other hand, homeschooled children spend much more time in the company of appropriate role models: parents, other adults and children who share the same values as them. In this environment, they are better able to learn from actual life situations and interact more effectively with people of all ages.

Homeschooling offers a number of significant advantages to parents and children. And it works! Clearly, homeschooling is one of the best ways to put the child’s natural curiosity to use, limited only by the imagination of the child and the parents.

Homeschooling is the Best way to Educate a Child