All posts by Zachary Cutter, Correspondent

Home Page News Bytes, News

Speechapalooza to return to NECC

 
Poster created by Matthew Scharn
A flyer advertising Speechapalooza event.
A flyer advertising Speechapalooza event.

Northern Essex proudly announces today that in April Speechapalooza is coming back better than ever. 

The event is organized and hosted by the Principles of Public Relations class. 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic Speechapalooza was attended by students who wanted to share their ideas to their friends and classmates in person through the power of making speeches. 

However during the pandemic it became more difficult, and everyone had to have their classes online and making Speechapalooza move online as well.

It returned as an in-person event last year, hosted by Professor Kim Lyng’s Principles of Public Relations class. 

 Now four years later it makes a strong second year comeback. 

This event prior to the pandemic was founded by Liberal Arts Dean Amy Callahan to make the students speak their mind and open their hearts. 

Lyng then took over Callahan’s role as facilitator and continued to  make it part of the class. 

Lyng put out a statement saying “Speechapalooza is a great opportunity for the NECC community to have their voices heard and it’s wonderful chance for the students in the PR course to plan and promote a real-world public speaking event. So, it’s a win-win all around!” 

Students are encouraged to participate in the activities of Speechapalooza and incentives for participating are included but not limited to eating pizza as well as wining prizes. 

 Speechapoloza will be held in Spurk Building’s Lecture Hall A. The date for the event is set for Thursday, April 25, from 12:30  p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

 For more information about the event please contact the event coordinator at neccspeechapalooza@gmail.com or any of the social media pages like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter/X or Twitch.

Home Page News Bytes, News

The ongoing genocide in China

and  

In the Xinjiang province in the People’s Republic of China there is genocide going on and its being perpetrated by the government. The target of this ongoing crime against humanity is the Uighurs who are a Turkic ethnic minority that live in the province which is located in the Northwestern part of the People’s Republic of China.

The province borders with Mongolia, Kazakistan, Kyrgstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The seeds of the genocide were planted in the shadow in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. China stated that they too were victims of terrorist attacks but the Communist Party of China (CCP) which is the ruling government body of the country stated that the attacks were happening in the province of Xinjiang but in reality they wanted to remain control of that region which was by reported by China’s state media groups like Xinhua news and China Central television.

The Party’s rational behind this was to crack down on people who were against the party but do it under the guise of national security. Tensions against the Uighurs began in June, 2009, when a rumor began to float around that a woman who was Han Chinese worked in a toy factory was sexual assaulted by six Uighur migrant workers. The incident was reported by the Voice of America which investigated the claim and found out the story was concocted by a disgruntled worker who quit from his job at the factory. As a result of the rumor several Uighur workers were attacked by other workers and when the dust settled two Uighur workers died as a result.

The story of the violent attack went viral and on July. 5 2009 Uighur students staged a protest over the incident which was held in the city of Urumqi which is located Xinjiang. The protest ended with the police using live rounds of ammunition against the students which started a riot. It was reported in the state media that 197 people were killed in the riots and most of them were Han Chinese. This sparked more violence in the days after in where more Uighurs got attacked by violently armed mob who were armed with melee weapons like hammers, bats and hypodermic needles. The attacks on the Uighurs were all captured on cell phone video which was leaked online and the British newspaper known as The Times picked up on the footage which shocked the world. The final death toll of the July 5 violence is unknown and its highly disputed since the Uighurs who were there claimed that toll was in the thousands whereas the Chinese state media reported that the death toll was much lower.

In the aftermath of the riots the domestic security budget of the province was tripled in order to stop any violence from happening again which was unheard since the other provinces got same amount of security from the exact same budget. The budget for Xinjiang increased by 57 percent and security budget for the rest of the country got 34 percent according to the American think tank group, Jamestown Foundation.

The seeds began to grow with a series of high profile terrorist attacks from 2010 to 2014 which all culminated on March, 1, 2014 in a mass stabbing that happened in a train station which resulted in 31 people killed and the government blamed the attack on Uighers of Xinjiang only escalating the situation. The stabbing attack was reported by western media outlets like the BBC but state outlets decided frame the attack as anyone who is a Uighur is a terrorist. In 2016 relations reached a critical point when Chen Quango, who was previously the party secretary of Tibet was appointed by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, and Winnie the Pooh clone, Xi Jingping, appointed him to be head of the province.

Under Chen’s rule of the region the early stages of the genocide began to start when the mosques that Uighurs go for worship started to be closed by the government. The language of the Uighurs, books about their heritage and history to the more mundane things like growing a beard and abandoning alcohol are outlawed and deemed illegal. In the eyes of the Chinese Communist party they considered these things as promoting extremism and deemed illegal by the state and if anyone was caught doing one of these thing they would be subjugated with force.

These acts being perpetrated were being reported by overseas media like Voice of America. Other times the CCP encouraged the Han Chinese to move into Xinjiang to increase the population and to out populate the Uighurs. This tactic has been used before in the past the first time 1950’s when the Communist party took over with Chairman Mao Zedong as the country’s leader and agains in the 1970’s during the height of the Cultural Revolution.

The CCP started to build the camps in 2017 with internal reports being leaked to western press outlets such as the New York Times. The documents showed that CCP had imprisoned over one million people in concentration camps which are called by the government “job training centers.”

The people in these camps consisted mostly Uighur Muslims but some are not Uighurs they are Kazakhs who are also Muslim who came from the neighboring country of Kazakistan, even Christians and other religions are being targeted by the CCP.

The goal of these camps are to indoctrinate them with propaganda to break them and mold their minds into loyal members of the state. Some of the people in these camps have kids outside the walls of the camps who are lied to by government authorities and their teachers.

The documents showed the orders that were given out to arrest them for any reason. In 2017 and 2019 at least 80,000 Uighurs were forced into slave labor in factories that are owned by major western companies like Amazon, Nintendo, Nike, Google and Apple.

This revelation about the slave labor was revealed in February, 2020 when Forbes magazine did an article on the report which was put out by the Australian think tank group, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Forbes went on to report the working conditions of the factories which labeled them as “Abusive working conditions, such as political indoctrinations, police guard posts in factories…ban on religious practices.” and the living conditions were labeled as “Isolation such as living in segregated dormitories and being transported in dedicated trains.”

Other reports from people who were in the camps told accounts of organ harvesting and hair being shaved off of the people who are being held in the camps.

In 2020 two major events would happen that would bring the world’s attention to Genocide first one was drone footage that was leaked online in January of that year that showed Uighur muslims in blue garments being held on a train platform being guarded by soldiers. People saw the footage they draw parallel’s to Hitler’s Holocaust during World War II and a journalist for the BBC confronted the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom. During the confrontation the ambassador outright denied the footage and the ongoing  atrocity.

The second big controversy was Disney released its live action remake of its 1998 film, Mulan, which released on Disney plus due to the COVID-19 outbreak closing the movie theaters. The 2020 remake of the film was filmed in Xinjiang and at the end credits of the film they thanked the governmental organization that was running the camps.

Some students at NECC recently gave their thoughts about the events in the People’s Republic of China.

Andrew Vendetti, Journalism and Communications major, stated the following “I think the “re-education camps” for the Uighur population in China is nothing short of shameful…. I certainly don’t want war, but we also can’t stand idly as people are tortured and raped in government camps.”

Jocelyn Avila-Frias another student of NECC stated similar thoughts  “I think the genocide is tragic and we should bring more awareness to it. I also think the film Mulan could’ve done a better job listening to their audience and being an active activist in focusing on the horrors of the genocide and how they can overcome it. To say that Mulan’s filming near Uighur camps was tone deaf would be an understatement.”

However unfortunately some people have been defending the actions of the CCP these people consisted of either mostly genocide and atrocity denialists who think the CCP is in the right in rounding up people based on their race or religion is ok and other times they use evidence that is put by the Party and its propagandists which have since been debunked.

These people have been strongly condemned by historians and activists alike since they no different than Holocaust deniers. One British activist named Majid Narwaz staged a hunger strike on July, 2020 to raise awareness of the genocide in UK parliament and the strike was announced on his Twitter page. In less than a week his strike gained attention which in turn created a petition that gained over 100,000 signatures.

After his strike was over he went his podcast on Leading Britain’s Conversation (LBH) in which he stated that “Genocide is a zero sum game it leaves no room for neutrality….there is no choice you can take here other than opposing the genocide.” He went even further arguing that if people don’t speak out against the genocide they are complicit in their silence.

zThe Trump administration was the first one to denounce the genocide and the Biden administration following after. The ongoing genocide has no end in sight with a grim and dark future for the Uighurs. Some people speculate on what will happen next if the CCP will finish the genocide with the worst case scenario being a war with People’s Republic of China that could escalate into a nuclear war that could start over Taiwan. The activists suggest the best outcome for the genocide to end is either to raise awareness about it and to call out or boycott the people and the companies who are taking part in this crime against humanity.

History and time will only tell on how this saga of the People’s Republic of China’s crime against humanity and the genocide will end.  Who are they that they don’t know their history ?

 

Opinion

The problems of Critical Race Theory

and  

In the lead up to the 2020 election more specially during the first presidential debate., Fox News correspondent Chris Wallace asked former President Trump about why he banned  Critical Race Theory in government programs.

His response was that it created hatred and division among one another with the caveat of it being “anti American.”

According to Encyclopedia Britannica the definition of Critical Race Theory is “the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color.”

Their argument that they are pushing is that for hundreds of years laws  only benefited for white people both poor and rich.

However overtime the US has made improvements against these racist laws like giving Black people their rights and expanding protections among other marginalized communities like the LGBTQ and Hispanic community.

Critical Race Theory gained prominence during the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd in police custody.

The theory unfortunately pushes thinly veiled White Supremacy under the guise of “Anti-Racism” training. The theory also pushes that Jewish and Asian people are “White” and “privileged” because they cheated due to them being more successful and havingmore advantages in their life. That belief is a form of left wing Anti Semitism and Anti Asian racism since it portrays the Jews as people who control the banks and they use the stereotype of portraying Asians as good at everything. Some these beliefs that they push or believe in are identical to what Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists and other members of the far right believe in which are racist conspiracy theories.

There are many critics who call out the racism of this theory but there are two prominent people who speak out against it like author Christopher Rufo and journalist James Lindsey who both documented the stories that come out of these Critical Race theory trainings. On Rufo’s own website he has documented the programs which goes in great detail on how CRT breeched the most secured places in America some of which helped designed nuclear weapons like Sandia national laboratories which is a government agency. According to whistleblowers they held a three day camp for males who are white to “deconstruct their male culture” which ended with them being forced to write apology letters to women and people of color. The Sandia investigation and its details were shocking to most people. This event alone could be considered a violated Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 according to the federal law which forbids people to be discriminated based on their race.

One of these pushers is author and professor Robin DiAngelo who published a racist book titled “White Fragility” in which she admits she is racist he book itself pushes racist ideas.

The idea of “White Fragility” in which she coined herself. the term itself is a kafaka trap in which someone doesn’t admit they are racist it proves they are racist and if they do it proves the person’s point. A couple examples of DiAngelo’s racism shows in her manifesto like on page 51 of White Fragility she stated the following “The forces of racism were shaping me before I took my first breath.”

On page 53 she described an event that she went to an outdoor dinner party where she felt uncomfortable around Black people who attended the party. The last example happened on page 69 of the manifesto she openly admits she was raised as a White Supremacist. DiAngelo was subjected to major controversies one of them being back in November 2020 she got paid more than a Black person at a speaking event and the pay out for her was over $70,000.

This theory is being countered by people speaking up who have witnessed such trainings like with Smith College in Northampton Massachusetts and its former staffer turned whistleblower Jodi Shaw.

Shaw went on Tucker Carlson’s late night show and later on former Vice journalist Tim Pool’s IRL podcast. In both interviews she gave she the exact same story on how she was discriminated based on the color of her skin and not on her character.

As the story progress she felt humiliated and demoralized about these trainings and when she left the school wanted to settle the whole thing in which she said no too. She filed complaint in which she was verbally attacked by people who she considered her colleagues and friends. The attacks never ended for her until she left the college and this incident was reported by former New York Times reporter Bari Weiss who broke the story on her Substack page and it went viral from there.

There are other examples of people speaking out against CRT like several parents in Virginia who spoke out against it which lead to a teachers group on Facebook to dox and threat them the head of the school board coming out and defending the actions of the teachers.

The incident broke over Virginia news station WSET. Some however have gone so far as to outlaw the theory from public schools like with Florida governor Ron DeSantis who issued a statement about saying that the theory has no place in the classroom following this other states followed this by banning it like Iowa and currently having hearings on it like in New Hampshire over HB 544 and similar legislation in Rhode Island that is being debated over. T

he House bills in both states were being reported on by local news reports from with in their states. In New Hampshire’s case it was broke over the internet from the people who attended the hearing like Karlyn Borensenko who is another critic of Critical Race Theory. There are other states through out the union who are enacting similar legislation to ban the theory in schools and local.

The rise of Critical Race Theory could be seen as some as clear and present danger to the national and domestic security of the United States like the previously mentioned Sandia case.

This is a battle of ideologies one that is racist who want to up end the civil rights and one not racist who want to preserve the dream and it has no end in sight. Critical Race Theory is dangerous and a toxic ideology that should be stop in its tracks and the people who either push this theory need to be called out.

The followers who believe in the theory need to be talked out of what they believe in. This theory will only more division and create more racists in the country which will lead to more hate crimes. I think  this theory is discriminatory since it is going to have the opposite effect on people in which they try not to be racist but instead it will create more racists.

Features, Slider

COVID-19 one year later: An oral history

and  

In March 2020 the world stood still when a pandemic ended everyday life. It started as a virus with its origins unknown that started in the city of Wuhan in the heart of the People’s Republic of China. After that it went global with the first cases popping out of the borders of the PRC. By March 2021 over 500,000 Americans had died from COVID-19. This event would shake the core of the Medical Community and put a strain on  all of them both physically and psychologically.  These are a handful accounts from people with in the medical community in the state of Massachusetts more specifically the doctors and nurses of Lawrence General hospital. These are a series of interviews conducted by email over a series of days and some of the interviews were condensed down.

 

  1. Where were you when you heard about the outbreak and how did you feel?

 

Erica Cutter RN, MSN, Mother of NECC Correspondent Zachary Cutter, Newburyport, MA

Not sure about location. But I remember thinking it would never get as bad as they were saying. I really thought well it will be like the yearly flu-some get it-some don’t. That there was no way possible it could or would effect so many people. I also felt sad and selfish because we had a big trip planned with the family.

 

Deb Karantonis, RN,BSN,CCRN, Salem, NH

When I heard about the outbreak I was at first hesitant to believe it was real. I thought it was going to be similar to the every day Influenza virus. But when it hit Boston at that convention they were having I actually got a little knot in my throat and said wow it is unbelievable and it is going to spread like wild fire. I felt very nervous for my family and also as a critical care nurse felt very nervous for myself and for my coworkers not knowing what to expect

 

Glenn Newsome MD, Andover, MA

I feel like most people, I do not recall a particular place or time that I heard about the Coronavirus.  My awareness seemed to come on gradually.  There were sporadic news reports and then rather suddenly it seemed to be upon us. The real warning came when the participants of the Biomedical company became sick after a conference Boston.  It was then that I realized it was on our door step.  My first personal involvement started when I was asked to come back to cover in the LGH ICU.  The hospital developed a plan to care for the surge of COVID-19 patients by opening more critical care beds.  I was extremely concerned about my personal safety and the safety of my family.  Before I began, I saw a memorial to seven Italian physicians that had come out of retirement only to contract the infection and die.  They all looked like me.

 

Maria Mazzone, RN, ADN,BA Economics,Methuen, MA

I was at home watching the news when I first heard of COVID.  It did not worry me at that time because “it” was not here in Massachusetts.

 

Linda Brigham, RN, BSN, CCRN, Kingston, NH

I was in the Spanish Virgin Islands on a catamaran and planned to spend our second week in the British Virgin Islands. We were told that we could not enter the British Island for our second week , due to covid, so we sailed the Spanish Islands for our second week. I remember feeling disappointed but, thought “well these islands are beautiful as they are and they will be there  next year”.

 

  1. When you treated or took care of your first COVID patient did you foresee the pandemic playing out the way it did?

 

Erica Cutter RN, MSN

I recall two patients that were probable COVID—but we at that time didn’t have the ability or there was a lot of red tape to get them tested.  They were young. And it just didn’t make sense that someone so young could be so sick. I remember the intensivist saying I know what this is.  And from that day forward everything changed.

 

Deb Karantonis, CCRN,RN, BSN

When I took care of my first COVID patient in the intensive care unit I did not expect to see what I saw. It was unimaginable how quickly a patient could take a turn for the worse you need a breathing tube. It was extremely upsetting to me to see patients call the families or FaceTime their families prior to being intubated. Especially because I and lot of my coworkers and doctors knew that maybe was the last time they would ever see or hear from their loved one again. That seemed almost inevitable in the beginning when somebody received a breathing tube.

 

Glenn Newsome,MD

Answering a question about the treatment of patients with COVID-19 is a difficult.  Our lack of fundamental knowledge of the pathogenesis of the infection was extremely disturbing.  Every day literally presented new challenges.  The treatment that we used on Monday was not the same treatment that we would use on Wednesday.  It is the first, and hopefully the last time, I practiced medicine on the basis of tweeter feed.  Those first few weeks made us realize that we were dealing with an illness that did not follow the same rules.  For many healthcare workers this uncertainty and confusion resulted in severe emotional stress.  The arrival of SARS-CoV-2 was going to be devastating to mankind.  This may seem strange to say, in retrospect, I thought the loss of life was going to be much worse.

 

Maria Mazzone, RN, ADN,BA Economics

No I did not. I did not think it was going to affect so many people and that so many of them would die.

 

Linda Brigham, RN, BSN, CCRN

I totally didn’t foresee this pandemic would have a destructive force our generation would ever encounter.

 

  1. How did you feel during the height of the outbreak and did you feel mentally strained about it?

 

Erica Cutter RN, MSN

I felt scared, tired and frustrated.  People were dying all around us.  We couldn’t save them.  I have never witnessed so many people die in such a short amount of time. It really took a toll on the medical team.  We had nurses leaving the bedside in fear of their health and their loved ones.  Nobody wants to think that they brought the covid home and made their household sick.  Many nurses, doctors and practitioners were infected with COVID.  I thankfully did not get infected but it was like just waiting for it. Waiting to get sick and worrying how sick would I get.

 

Deb Karantonis, RN, BSN, CCRN

During the height of the outbreak I was extremely exhausted and felt overworked. Not only was I working a lot of hours in the intensive care unit but I felt like I wasn’t taking care of my own needs on my family’s needs and never felt like I got a break from wearing all the PPE that is involved in taking care of the COVID patient. I will say I was more than mentally drained

 

Glenn Newsome MD

Yes, I felt emotionally strained at the height of my involvement with the pandemic.  As I have mentioned previously, there was great concern about personal safety, lack of clarity regarding what the virus was doing to patients, and a general sense of helplessness.  Everyone had to find a way to manage the emotional turmoil.  I relied upon the strength of my family, the courage of my fellow doctors, nurses, and therapists, and faith in a higher power.

 

Maria Mazzone, RN, ADN,BA Economics

It was very stressful. I was afraid of getting it and bringing the virus home to my family. It was stressful and draining wearing all the PPE and not being able to eat, drink or go to the bathroom without removing all your PPE. At the height of it, we had to wear the body suit, double gloves, surgical hat and face shield or goggles. It takes time to put it on and take it off. We had to open another unit to accommodate all the patients. And one unit, which did not have doors separating the COVID patients, you cannot remove your PPE until you left the unit. There were new staff and new doctors to the hospital that you had to work with. Also a lot of nurses had to get redeployed to help the ICU nurses. Everyone were still learning how to treat covid. And then, we had PPE shortage. Those PPE that we used to take for granted were being exhausted. I was scared, sad, frustrated and drained. I was surprised a lot of us nurses kept working.

 

Linda Brigham, RN, BSN, CCRN

During the height of the outbreak I was  emotionally and physically on overdrive. I was terrified I would bring this deadly virus home to my family. I soon realized people could survive the covid infection, however the lifelong side effects could be devastating such as: clots in the lungs and fibrosis of the lung tissue.

 

 

  1. Do you think we should address the mental and physical toll that this outbreak caused on our medical professionals?

 

Erica Cutter RN, MSN

Absolutely 100%.  I get so angry when I hear that people think COVID isn’t real. There are so many conspiracy theories.  Just thinking about what we went through in the past year makes me teary.  I actually questioned whether or not I was strong enough mentally to continue at the bedside.  I believe that organizations should be putting their staffs emotional well-being at the top of the priority list.  Nursing during the pandemic will forever be on my mind. I also feel bad for families.  I can’t imagine not being able to be with their loved ones at end of life.

 

Deb Karantonis, RN, BSN, CCRN

I absolutely feel as though it is imperative to address the mental and physical toll that has been wearing on the medical professionals. We are so focused on taking care of everybody else that I think if our mental and physical issues are not addressed we are going to see devastating affects in the future And I believe you will have a lot of medical professionals leaving their calling

 

Glenn Newsome MD

This episode in human history is going to leave a permanent scar on many providers in the healthcare world.  This experience is going to result in many deciding that they cannot continue in the field.  They will move on to other pursuits.  For those who decide to stay, there absolutely needs to be better assistance in dealing with the psychological and emotional upheaval.   We have not made much progress in dealing with these issues.  Everyone is expected to be “strong” and carry on.  Isolation is the worst enemy.  Openness and compassion for each other is where healing begins.  We need to check-in with our coworkers and find solutions.

 

Maria Mazzone, RN, ADN,BA Economics

Yes I think it should be addressed. Resources to help us cope with the mental and physical toll this pandemic caused should be readily available and either free or at a low cost.  There are a lot of nurses who are reevaluating their choice of career.

 

Linda Brigham, RN, BSN, CCRN,

I absolutely believe the mental and physical toll on the medical professionals should be addressed. I have experienced PTSD due to end of life patient/ family interactions. Several times I had to “face time” family members, because in person visitations were not available,  during which time the family members would talk to their loved ones saying such things like: l love you so much, you are why I am who I am now”! My heart hurt and my tears flowed for the family members who couldn’t be with their loved ones, but in the end I assured the family members  members someone would be with their  loved one at the end. I know this was an incredible relief for family members. A second phase of my PTSD: In the beginning of covid I cared for many patients who were on breathing machines so I had no personal interactions with them. However, 8-9 months into COVID patients would come up to the intensive care unit  requiring a higher level of care. I would bond with these patients , learn their personality, laugh with them, cry with them, THEN …know their path would ultimately end ….so  many silent tears!

 

  1. How much progress do you think we have made in our ability to tackle another pandemic?

 

Erica Cutter RN, MSN

This is a tricky one.  I guess I question with what we have learned and would we be able to implement in another pandemic.  One thing that has been proven is that education is key.

 

Deb Karantonis, RN, BSN, CCRN

So in my opinion I feel as though we have made leaps and bounds in our ability to tackle possibly the next pandemic. I think things will be different from the beginning and the CDC will have something to refer back to In the event of another pandemic. And I believe now that we have had one pandemic I think there will be eventually another pandemic …. who knows when or where it will start but I think it will be inevitable unfortunately

 

Glenn Newsome MD

No one of this generation will forget the pain and advances made in 2020.  I have optimism that we will be more intellectually and emotionally prepared for the next worldwide epidemic.  We have learned many lessons.  Nations need to be open and honest regarding the emergence of new or novel illness.  Governments need to be ready to coordinate the distribution of materials and assistance based on science and not politics.  Frontline workers need to have access to accurate and timely information to design care plans for patients.  The public has to understand the need to accept personal responsibility for their actions and the impact on others.

 

Maria Mazzone, RN,ADN,BA Economics

I think we have learned a lot from this pandemic experience although, not fast enough to limit the number of people that died. Not fast enough for people not to suffer financially, losing their business and homes.

 

Linda Brigham, RN, BSN, CCRN

I believe we have made great progress in the COVID pandemic, however if another pandemic were to surface I believe it would devastate us as a nation. COVID has touched all of us in various ways.

 

These gut wrenching stories from the medical professions who were close to those infected by the virus showed valor, bravery and courageous acts of kindness to the ones who were dying or at near death. These words cannot express the horror that came with this global event.

 

News

GameStop vs Wall Street

and  

The video game retailer GameStop has been on a downward trend due in recent years to its poor sales horrible management and COVID-19 nearly tanking and bankrupting the company. This company would become part of one of the biggest stories that affected the pockets of Wall Street Bankers and Tycoons and it would last for multiple days. These crucial days were seen as a new type of fight between the Wall Street vs Main Street with surprising allies.

On Jan. 25 a Reddit forum called r/WallStreetBets and a user whose real name is Keith Gill gaind attention.  Gill is a 34 year old from Brockton, Massachusetts with a profession as a financial analyst. Gill also runs a YouTube channel called “RoaringKitty.” On his channel Gill posted a video titled “The Big Short Squeeze from $5 to $50? Could GameStop (GME) Explode Higher Value Investing.” In the video he said the following “It’s one of the most compelling opportunities asymmetric opportunities in the market today…. That is why it’s the top position in my portfolio.” The people on the forum started talking about on how to do a Short Squeeze.  A Short Squeeze is a massive increase in value of stock and it happens when no one is buying and there is too much demand for it, basically it’s a system anomaly.

They started to up the value of GameStop by over a thousand percent. These people were up against the major hedge-fund companies like Melvin Capital and Citron Research who were betting their own money against them. They shorted the stock of GME and every other company saw this did the exact same thing. The companies who shorten stocks are throwing away stocks that they see as worthless or made next to no money. These were the companies that were featured in the 2015 film “The Big Short” starring Christian Bale in where he plays Michael Murray. Murray was one of the key people who was involved with the 2008 Housing Crisis.

The Reddit traders used an app called RobinHood which sold people stock as it if were free money. GameStop’s stock started to grow since Jan. 12 when it reached its climax on the 21st when the market closed with astonishing value of $43 dollars which was more than double than the day before. The hedge-fund companies were not having it at all. Some went out of their way to express their anger on what everyday people were doing to them. One of the people involved with these companies was Andrew Left who is a Short Seller that worked with Citron Research. He posted a since deleted video on Citron’s Youtube page telling them “You are not going to change the story” and “You won’t see a squeeze here on in.” Others however were making fun of the people on Wall Street and encouraging the Redditor’s to continue the fight. One of these supporters was the Wolf of Wall Street himself, Jordan Belfort. Belfort re-enacted his famous speech from Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

There were also every day people like Northern Essex Community College student Finn Sparrow who said “I think it’s a great movement and that these hedge fund managers like shady tactics until it’s used against them.”

Someone even managed to put up an electronic billboard that said “Money Go Brrr” in New York City’s Time Square.

Memelord, Millionaire Playboy and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, saw this and got into it with him tweeting out “GAMESTONKS!” The media got on to the GameStop train with some people either defending the people on Reddit like the co-host of the Halftime Report, Jim Cramer on a Jan. 27 broadcast who said it was “a First Amendment issue.” Cramer days later said “At the end of the day I don’t think a Reddit forum can bring the house down. They are picking undervalue stock that are a Big Short Position and run with them. It can cause crazy moves in handful of stocks but it’s not big enough to move the entire market.”

This affected other stocks like AMC and GameStop was only getting bigger with the market opening on $88 dollars with the closing the day before being at $78 and at the end day GameStop closed with $148 per share.

People were trying to find any explanation on what is going on with the short squeeze and suffice to say they were panicking. On Jan. 27 the stock of AMC along with GameStock went up and it opened at $300 around the same time Melvin Capital were trying to say a float. They were hemorrhaging money which resulted in them closing everything and this turned out to be false. As for Citron Research, Andrew Left, posted another video which was an update to the deleted video. In the video Left stated the following “The reason I’m doing this video it’s because I can’t answer one more phone call.”

As the day went on it got crazier with GME peaking at $380 before it went into free fall. This happened when apps like RobinHood crashed partly because everyone was selling at the exact same time which caused the sever to overload.

However there were others who came out to defend the side of Wall Street like late night comedian and TV personality, Jimmy Kimmel, who quote retweet to a tweet made by former host of the Daily Show, Jon Stewart. Stewart tweeted out on Jan. 28  “…The Redditors aren’t cheating; they’re joining a party Wall Street insiders have been enjoying for years.” Kimmel replied with the following “RealDonaldTrump? Is this you?”

He went so far as to doubled down on his showing later that night saying it was “Russian Disruptors.”  The news corporations also defended Wall Street by using disinformation and smear tactics like CNBC and CNN who put out headlines saying that Redditors are moving onto silver but on the Reddit itself however they were telling everyone not to buy silver. Newsweek went so far to call the Redditors involved in the event as “Far Right Extremists.”

In the aftermath RobinHood had to restrict the trading of GME people saw this and were furious about it with most wanting a federal investigation into what happened. The White House put out a statement to the press corps saying “they were monitoring the situation.” Some took their anger and frustration to Twitter with people like Rep. Alexandria Occasio Cortez who tweeted out “This is unacceptable. We now need to know more about @Robinhood’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit. As a member of the Financial Service CMTE, I’d support a hearing if necessary.” Others all across the political spectrum condemned what RobinHood did.

The reaction to the entire event was both meme worthy and glorious mainly because it exposed the corruption of these hedge fund managers.

Jeremy Isabelle, another student at  Northern Essex Community College said “honestly, more power to r/WallStreetBets. Their main targets seem to be the people who have dominated the field since its conception….I would say that creating regulation to halt instances like this also discourages the average day trader from getting involved in the market to begin with. There’s no real possible way to prove that all of these traders were colluding together other than a Reddit thread exposing what the hedge funds were doing with the GameStop stock, which exposed the tremendous profit to be made for these traders.”

Overall the event itself showed Wall Street is not safe from the wrath of the everyday working class people. Congress as of now are currently investigating on what happened with hearings into the event itself. One of the key people brought into testify was Keith Gill, the man who started the whole trend. There is speculation on what happens next and raising questions like “is this going to happen again?” The answers ranged from “yes” to “no.” That answer came on Feb. 24 when GameStop’s stock jumped up again before that was halted multiple times before it closed with $91. On Feb. 25 it continued to surge with the stock doubling its value from the day before with $170. Only time will tell what happens next with the never ending battle between the common man and the brokers.

Arts and Entertainment, Uncategorized

A review: HBO’s “Plot Against America”

and  
Plot Against America poster
The Plot Against America | NECC Observer

This speech might be pulled from an alt-right rally but it’s not, this speech was given on September 11, 1941 by American Aviator, Charles Augustus Lindberg, during an America First Rally in Des Moines, Iowa: “The three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration…The second major group is the Jewish. It is not difficult to understand why Jewish people desire the overthrow of Nazi Germany…A few far Jewish people realized this and stands opposed to intervention. But the vast majority still do not… We cannot blame them for looking out for what they believe to their own interests, but we must also look out for ours.  We can allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples to lead our country to destruction.”

In an alternate timeline this speech was in 1940 at the same rally. This speech carved a path towards the White House where Augustus became the opposing candidate against the incumbent President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Lindbergh wins the 1940 election and the rise of anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish people increase and some of the families are being separated.                     

This is the synopsis of Phillp Roth’s National Best Seller “The Plot Against America,” now it is being adapted to a tv show on HBO.

The series is viewed through the eyes of the Levin Family who are inspired by Philips Roth’s own family. The family are Jewish and working class, they live in Newark, New Jersey. In the first episode we see the dynamics of the family. Herman Levin is the father of Philip and his brother, Sandy, and is played by Morgan Spector. He played Frank Capone, Al Capone’s brother, in HBO’s production of “Boardwalk Empire”.  He is an insurance agent and is very passionate about his faith and his American pride.

 When Lindbergh gave his speech titled “Who Are the War Agitators?” he is enraged about it and shows concern about his family. He knows what is happening to the Jews overseas in Germany, Poland and the rest of the European continent. He is married to his wife Elizabeth Levin, nicknamed Bess, who is the mother of young Phillip and Sandy. She is the stay-at-mom and she attends the local Parent Teachers Association meetings. She is played by Zoe Kazan.

 She has a sister named Evelyn Finkel who is unmarried and trying to find her place in the world. She takes care of her mother who is living with her. Evelyn is played by Winona Ryder who played Mina Harker in Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”.  She is a supporter of South Carolina conservative rabbi, Lionel Bengelsdorf.  Bengelsdorf is played by John Turturro.  Turturro played Jesus Qunintana in the classic Coen Brothers film “The Big Lebowski” and will be playing Mafia Boss Carmine Falcone in “The Batman” coming out in 2022. Bengelsdorf will become a key supporter of Charles Lindbergh and his road to the Presidency. 

Then there are the bothers Sandy and Philip who are played by new upcoming young actors Caleb Malis and Azhy Robertson. Sandy is Philip’s teenage older brother who is an artist and sees Lindbergh as a hero. He would be considered a rebel with a cause.  Philip is the younger son and brother of the family and has a stamp book to collect stamps. Then there is Herman’s nephew, Alvin who is played by Anthony Boyle. Boyle was in films such as “Tolkien” and “The Lost City of Z” and the Amazon Prime series “Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams”. Alvin is Herman’s nephew who is the complete opposite of him.  Alvin has gripes with his family, has opposing political viewpoints and is a massive hypocrite and a thief. This eventually leads him to enlist in the British Army in Canada to fight the war in Europe.

In Episodes 2 and 3 we get to see real life events portrayed within the show. In episode two there was a massive pro-Lindbergh rally that was held in Madison Square Garden with a towering banner of George Washington. On the stage we see drummers and people holding the American flags. This draws parallels to the real life Madison Square Garden Rally that was held on February 20th 1939. The rally was hosted by the German American Bund and the main speaker of that event was the Bund’s “American Fuhrer” Julius Fritz Kuhn.  The event had over 20,000 attendees; these people were either members of the Bund, curious on lookers or anti-Nazi protesters. The protesters were on left side of the stage and being held back by the New York Police Department trying to keep the peace.

The police failed to stop one protester who jumped on to the stage and tried to attack Kuhn.  The guy was only stopped by Kuhn’s Brown shirted thugs who assaulted him relentlessly.  They had to pull the thugs off the poor guy and help him off the stage and the event was all caught on film.

After America enters the war in 1941, members associated with the Bund were put into internment camps, the biggest one of them was Crystal City, Texas. As for Kuhn he was denaturalized as a United States citizen in 1943. Two years later he was sent to Germany and in 1948, sentenced to ten years in prison for his role in trying to bring Nazism to US shores and having connections to Hitler. The ruling was handed down by the Germany’s denazification courts which were set up after the war. Their job was to get rid of any trace of anything involved with the Nazis like the Swastika, SS runes and the SS deaths head.

Another event we see is the desecration and defacement of cemetery headstone, more specifically a Jewish cemetery.  In this episode we see Herman and his friends cleaning up the defaced headstones. The headstones had black Swastikas painted on the front of them, it was placed over the Yiddish engraved headstone. This harkens back to both modern times and what was going on to the Jewish people in Germany and right now in America.

In Germany, the Jewish people were being persecuted. The Nazi Party passed the Nuremberg Racial Laws in 1935 which directly targeted them. The German Jews couldn’t get married and outlawed Jews having sexual encounters and relations and not having the same rights as German people.  After these things escalated, the Jews were getting assaulted in the streets and Jewish-owned business and store fronts were vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti and the brown-shirted thugs blocked people from entering the shops.  

Then there was Kristallnacht translated as The Night of Broken Glass in 1938. That event had The Nazi Party go out and destroy synagogues, schools and Jewish-owned shops. At the end of that night 91 people were murdered by the Nazis.  After the Nazis invaded and occupied Poland they set up the infamous camps one of these was the Plaszow concentration camp.  That camp had the tombstone road where the walkway was made up of headstones from the Jewish cemetery. This camp was made famous in 1993 with Director Steven Spielberg releasing Schindler’s List, the film showed the atrocities that were done in the camp.  

In modern times the same hate is there but it has changed its shape. The acts of Desecration and Vandalism on Jewish cemeteries are on the rise. On March 19, 2019 there were 59 gravesites desecrated with their headstones knocked over. This happened in Fall River, Massachusetts.  

Overall the show is outstanding and it shows what could have been if the course of history was changed.  The series has amazing performances from the cast with realistic set pieces making you feel like this could have happened. The show immerses the audience on the nightmarish scenario of America turning into a puppet or satellite state for Nazi Germany.  The show is a nine out of ten for anyone who is either a fan of alternate history or a fan of Philip Roth’s writing. This show is worth the watch.