New Zealand Bans Most Semi-Automatic Guns

By BRENDA MANYVANH

Staff writer

On March 15, 2019, New Zealand experienced the most horrific, violent, and blood gushing mass shooting ever known to their history. The mass shooter ransacked a nearby Mosque, killing at least 50 Muslims who were praying and worshiping their deity. The crime was made out of hatred, racism, and from one’s own ignorant mindset. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern was quick on her feet to respond back to the shooting. In her stand as a political leader, Jacinda proved to her nation that she would not let this happen to them again, she even mourns the loss of the 50 New Zealand residents with the family members that were suffering from the pain and heartache. Now, less than a month after the shooting, New Zealand passed a law that bans most semiautomatic weapons.

If you don’t know the difference between the various types of guns, here’s a quick rundown: semi-automatic firearms require to be loaded by hand and when the trigger is pulled, the gun will only release one bullet, and to fire again the trigger will have to pull again. Therefore instead of releasing bullets at a rapid pace, it releases them every time the trigger is pulled. The next firearm is an automatic gun. Automatic guns are able to produce bullets at a more rapid pace. Unlike the semi-automatic gun, the trigger does not need to be pulled multiple times to fire, instead, if the trigger is pressed down, bullets will continuously fire. In the New Zealand Massacre, the suspect had two semi-automatic weapons on hand, which were also accompanied with two shotguns and one lever action firearm. Due to this, New Zealand has made great efforts to bring justice to the victims of the massacre, and they have proved to their nation that they will continue to fight for peace. Now, using New Zealand as a prime example, will other countries follow in their footstep and ban weapons that appear as a threat to society?

Galaxy S10 Model Line Review

By DEMETRIOS TURK

Staff Writer

The newest Samsung Galaxy devices are here. The Samsung galaxy s10, with plus and e models respectively. The S10+ starts at $1000, which is regrettably becoming the standard for flagship smartphones in 2019. The standard S10 model starts at $900, and the “budget” model starts at $750. These new smartphones, with their annual March release, set the bar for the likes of OnePlus, the Google Pixel, and the iPhone. These companies watch what Samsung was able to accomplish and build on it or incorporate the technology into their own devices.

The new galaxies are as feature packed as ever, bolstering a new fingerprint scanner, a new camera, front and back, and a new operating system on top of stock android. Samsung also found the courage to keep the headphone jack for yet another set of phones, despite reports claiming the opposite. These new phones are all great and thus they deserve their own deep dive.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus:  The S10+ has many advantages over the other two models…duh because it is the plus model after all. Let’s start with the exterior of the phone.

The S10 on all models maintain the well-built glass and metal sandwich design that has been successful for the company since the S6 in 2015. They did tweak the design, having a sort of holographic white and black variants to go along with the mainstay coral and blue colors. The plus model also gets a dual front camera design, with the new hole punch design that the new S models have. The plus model comes with the option to replace the back glass with a black or white ceramic option…for an extra $250. If you want a new phone and want to get back at your wallet you can buy the ceramic model and opt for a whole terabyte of storage for a staggering $1600. The S10 plus has a 6.4-inch dynamic infinity display, with even fewer bezels because of the hole punch design, and a 4,100 MaH battery.

Samsung Galaxy S10: The S10 plus and the standard models both feature an innovative new fingerprint scanner. The Ultrasonic scanner is underneath the glass. The new fingerprint scanner uses tones and soundwaves to render a three-dimensional variation of your fingerprint. This means that a simple two-dimensional model would not unlock the phone. The S10 models not named then come with 8GB of ram which is a really solid amount for the power user all the way to the casual man. Both camera units have a triple camera unit, the normal camera, a telephoto dual aperture zoom camera, and an all-new super wide angle camera. Both have Samsung’s new fast wireless charging 2.0 technology inside, along with a power share feature. Power sharing is essentially the ability to be able to turn your S10 into a wireless charger; ideally for your smart products like wireless headphones or your smartwatch as the wireless output is rather slow.

Both phones are great, but unless you absolutely can’t live without the things in the last paragraph cheaper is better, especially when you are still getting a very great device.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 e: This is probably the most interesting model to come out this model year. Samsung isn’t hiding the fact that this phone is a direct competitor to the

iPhone XR, even having the phones at the same price point of $750. Let’s get one thing straight: The Galaxy S10 e is better than the iPhone XR in every way. Better battery, better cameras, as the E still has dual cameras compared to the one on the R. By far the better screen, as the XR screen doesn’t even get up to 1080p. This isn’t about the differences between the two, this is about the e. The Galaxy e has a 3100 MaH battery and starts at 128GB of storage. The screen is 5.8 inches of full HD+ and dynamic AMOLED technology; something different is that this is the first Samsung to have a non-curved display since the S7 of 2016. There is also a traditional fingerprint scanner on the power button of the S10e, this scanner is very fast, especially when compared to the ultrasonic on the other S10 models. The S10e is a very good option at the premium mid-range price range, as coined by MKBHD.

The latest and greatest devices from Samsung are finally here. The S10 model line checks most if not all of the boxes needed to create a great smartphone. The new operating system Samsung placed on top of Android 9.0 Pie is very streamlined and snappy. The skin they have used since the inception of the galaxy line, TouchWiz, was known for being feature heavy, but also bogging down the phone and being a little too much in your face. This is not a problem with the new Samsung One UI, as the features are still there, but everything is easily accessible but tucked away as to not interfere with the overall user experience. The One UI is also on the S9 and Note 9s, as of March 12th, the updates were rolled out. My daily driver is the Note 9, so this is the second full day I have been using the UI. It is everything that Samsung stated it would be and more. Samsung also has the Galaxy Fold in the works, announcing it alongside the S10. We do not have a date as of now, but it will be very interesting to see how this technology advances in the next couple of years.

Samsung hit the S10 model year out of the park, the new Galaxy Note 10 should improve on all of these things and make them better like most years. If Samsung even brings the Note line around for a tenth installment. It was hot on the rumor mill around December that Samsung’s Note 9 would be the last of the Notes, buy Samsung disputed this rumor amid the outcry from consumers. It will be interesting to see what the September Samsung release has in store for us consumers.

 

 

Stranger Things Season 3

 

By ETHAN BECK

Staff Writer

The first trailer for Stranger Things Season 3 has been realized, and the internet is excited for something new on the internet that isn’t controversial and/or depressing. A release date has been confirmed for July 4th, similarly the same event that Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and the gang with actual names will be celebrating in the next season. The trailer features the gang pranking Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) via Eleven’s powers, Steve (Joe Keery) having a new job, with a possible new love interest for the jerk turned the mother of six, a joke Keery has actually played along with.  With the enemy creatures from the Upside Down being named after enemies in Dungeons and Dragons (the best tabletop game of all time), many speculate that the next beast to be named the Tarrasque or the Beholder, infamous beasts in the D&D universe.  The series of Stranger Things took the Internet by storm, and there is not one human of right mind who isn’t at least interested in the amazing series.

Guns on College Campuses

 

By Vianca Teo

Staff Writer

Civilian gun rights have been a longstanding subject of national debate over the years. A recent rise in mass school shootings has galvanized several state legislators to sanction concealed handguns on college campuses, while another several are adamant on forbidding it. Where the two rigid sides can certainly agree on is that both advocates and opponents on the matter attribute their argument to the objective of preventing more innocent lives to fall victim to such occurrences. The question is, then, which position can enact laws and policies that will effectively enhance security and safety for students. If young students are armed with deadly weapons that are intended for the kill, evidently, mayhem will ensue. The only measure that will legitimately inhibit future campus casualties is for colleges to remain gun-free and restricting guns from the hands of students altogether by thorough and proper means of regulation and supervision.

More availability of firearms only adds further risks for students; hence, they must not be permitted on college campuses. A substantial percent of college students have experienced suicidal thoughts, and a portion within that amount has actually attempted it, according to professor David Skorton on his article “Do We Really Need More Guns on Campus”. The population of college students are still young and vulnerable, not quite teenagers any longer but likewise not quite adults yet. They are still highly susceptible to teenage insecurities, and on top of that are ladened with the pressure of academic workload. All of these factors often lead to self-harm, thus the increased presence of guns on campus would heighten the chances of more student deaths. Indeed, if an individual intends to commit suicide, they will resort to varying methods (such as drug overdose) than merely using guns. However, the result of death by drug overdose is significantly more likely to be unsuccessful compared using a gun, which only takes a pull of a trigger. Furthermore, if students bore guns in an active firing incident, it will heighten the risk of accidental shootings. Police force undergoes through extensive training in order to become adept at their profession, and yet circumstances still occur where they fail to aim their target. Concealed gun permit holders will clearly not be subjected to the same conditions, and will, therefore, will not acquire the same skills as a trained police officer. If students attempt to fire at a shooter as an act of self-defense, they may inadvertently shoot innocent individuals running to and fro in a chaotic setting.  In addition to that, police in the scene may not be able to distinguish between bystanders and aggressors if they are all carrying fatal weapons. Allowing concealed guns in school campus only amplifies the danger that students may face. It is better to leave it to law enforcement to handle such precarious and risky situations.

Colleges must have active means of prohibiting the smuggling of firearms in the school campus, such as instilling entry point metal detection and frequent monitoring and inspecting dormitories for lethal weapons. Additionally, colleges must hire greater numbers of police officers, who will be stationed by building halls and in every corner of each school vicinity, so they are able to survey for and detect any suspicious activity.

“New Trailer On ‘Aladdin’ Actually Doesn’t Look Bad”

 

From the first teaser of the upcoming “Aladdin” live-action film, people were NOT impressed or excited to see how this film would turn out. Now that the official trailer has been released on March 12th, 2019, now there’s the uncertainty of whether this would be a good or a bad film, but from a different point of view, this actually might turn out to be a decent movie.

The most common complaint was Will Smith, a famous actor, starring as the Genie. But even with our first glance at this new adaptation, the trailer hints at a more sarcastic, funny, pretty much “Will Smith” genie versus the 1992 comedic and memorable genie from the animated movie. The characters, although they don’t match the cartoon characters, look more historically accurate in some ways, which many people hardly look at. This is Disney’s remake of their beloved film, and at some point, it’s probably best to make a film the way DISNEY saw the story NOW, instead of copying their own idea from 1992.

The most likely reason people (including myself) hated the teaser so much was because we were expecting to see the old “Aladdin”, and not the new one. Surprisingly, I got goosebumps when the Genie began singing “Never Had A Friend Like Me” in the trailer because it was so upbeat and just, new! For the first time, I actually felt excited to see this movie, despite the way Jafar was portrayed and the way Jasmine looks now. No one can ever forget the original movie for what it is, but in all honesty, Disney’s 2019 “Aladdin” might not be so bad as everyone assumed at first.

Vegetarianism

 

I recently made the decision to become a vegetarian. Many people look down on me for that for whatever reason, and this is something I do not understand. Vegetarianism has many more options than people think, several times while broaching the idea of being vegetarian to my family they told me I would regret it and miss the meat. But, almost a month in I do not miss meat at all. In fact, I find that I have so many more options than I originally considered. Not only have I come to realize how many food options there are that do not have meat, but I have come to learn several new recipes in this time span. The point of this article though is to make a statement on vegetarianism, just to say that there are many more options than people think and that everyone has the right to make their own dietary decisions.

Sanctuary City Resolution in Troy

 

By VIANCA TEO

Staff Writer

 

Troy’s New York City Council conferred to consider opening their city as a safe and protected haven to immigrants. This proposal has divided local residents to either support or oppose the measure. Defenders of the resolution justify that these immigrants are escaping from violence and poverty in their native countries and that therefore they have the moral obligation to aid those in need. Opponents – meanwhile – contend that creating an environment that will shelter immigrants that do not have proper documentation will increase the crime rates in the area and likewise subvert the authority of the police department by “limiting their ability to question and investigate.” To be precise, once the proposition is authorized, police officers may not ask an individual their citizenship status. If a person is suspected of committing a crime, for instance, they will not have to fear the prospect of deportation. If local lawmakers from Troy successfully declare the area as a sanctuary city, then – predictably – it will attract more immigrants. The New York state’s cities have highly developed economies, hence it is reasonable that hundreds of thousands of migrants are pulled by its cities and are willing to voluntarily travel far to reach these places. Legislators have taken a step further in upholding their values, as the resolution to designate Troy as a refuge for undocumented migrants will protect individuals and families from immigration laws. Many immigrants were born and raised in the country, leading normal lives as law-abiding citizens, therefore they should not have to live in fear of being deported. Though several fear increasing crime rates, it will actually build and encourage a safer space because undocumented immigrants will have a better relationship with law enforcement. Criminals in sanctuary cities do not have more freedom and will continue to be apprehended by local police officers. Even better, undocumented immigrants will willingly cooperate with law enforcement and report to them if they witness a crime, without fear of their child or other family members of being affected due to their citizenship status. Sanctuary cities not only assist undocumented immigrants but likewise benefit the community.

 

Critical Role Animated Series

 

By ETHAN BECK

Staff Writer

 

Throughout the mid-’70s and even into the ’90s, the tabletop game known as Dungeons and Dragons was met with mass propaganda, as was anything new in that era. But after nearly 50 years, the game has broken a world record. Somewhat. In March of 2015, the web series known as Critical Role started going live. It was essentially a bunch of incredibly talented voice actors (who have voiced characters in pretty much anything animated) and a play D&D together for 3-5 hours an episode. The series has had two seasons over the years, the first being 115 episodes long, while the second has 50 and is continuing its story and premieres on Twitch every Thursday (this isn’t just an ad, there is some news). How the series broke a world record, is when Critical Role announced how they would be doing an animated special, and launched a Kickstarter for $750,000. As of now, the animated series has raised over $8.2 million dollars, making it the most successful crowdfunded product in history, and the time for donation isn’t even over! As of now, there is the talk of an 88-minute special, with talks of other stories further on. Critical Role and D&D as a whole have succeeded in a way that literally broke records. As a player of Dungeons & Dragons and a fan of Critical Role, this animated series might just revive my broken heart after the next Avengers.

‘#RebelsRemembered’ One Year Anniversary

 

By KAITLYN HENSON

Staff Writer

It’s been 1 year since the finale of the show “Star Wars Rebels”, which aired from 2014 to 2018 of last year with 4 seasons filled with loveable characters and flashbacks to the original trilogy created by Lucasfilm. The series finale was something many fans were looking forward to, and now a year later we still remember how great of a show this was.

“Star Wars Rebels” was an animated Disney XD show that took place 14 years after the events of Order 66, following the story of the Ghost crew (the Ghost is the name of their ship). Orphan Ezra Bridger comes across Kanan Jarus, the leader of the Ghost crew, and finds out that Ezra is force-sensitive, and throughout the series, Kanan trains Ezra the ways of the force and to help him become a Jedi. The other characters in the show also play a role in the story’s plot; pilot Hera Syndulla, brute Zeb Orrelios, artist Sabine Wren, and prankster Chopper. Together they are all a family fighting against the Empire and working with the Rebellion to bring peace to the galaxy once again, coming across dangerous enemies, familiar faces, and lost secrets that changed the fate of the Ghost crew, as well as everyone else in the galaxy.

Overall, “Star Wars Rebels” was a great show to grow up with, even though it had a rough start at the beginning. The characters are loveable, the backstories are tragic, and the returns of many characters were featured in “The Clone Wars”, which drew a lot of fans to watch more. It was such a good show, and it was sad to see “Star Wars Rebels” air the last episode on March 5th, 2018. This show deserves so much love for the overly complex characters, so make sure to go check it out!

Unplanned

 

By CRISTOFF ZAVALA
Staff Writer

 

“Unplanned” is a movie by Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman that just hit theatres. The movie revolves around a woman named Abby Johnson who works in an abortion clinic. Being a Pro-Life based movie, it showed the horrors of abortion, as well as how women were treated before and after the procedure. The rated-r movie is filled with gruesome scenes that depict how abortion really works, not recommended if the viewer has a weak stomach. The movie does a good job of portraying the struggles a woman must go through, be it surgery or even just pills. The movie was overall cheesy and personally, I wouldn’t recommend it to many people. It does well with older crowds, as most people going to see the movie are above age and even mostly elderly.