Category Archives: World

A New Era Is Coming

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Dua Lipa may be, if not, one of the world’s biggest pop stars out right now. Just recently, Dua Lipa has released her brand new hit single, “Don’t Start Now” on Halloween of this year. Ever since Lipa has released this worldwide smash hit, she has been traveling the world everywhere! 

Just within a short span of two-weeks, Lupa has performed Don’t Start Now at the: MTV EMA’s in Spain, ARIA Awards in Australia, AMA’s in Los Angeles, MNet Asian Music Awards in Japan, Hamilton Island Australia, Mumbai India, and the Graham Norton show are just a few to name at the moment.

Dua Lipa is also set to release a brand new album titled, “Future Nostalgia” in 2020. The brand new album will include genres of disco and pop while also incorporating a new version of Dua Lipa as a pop star. Lipa wants to give her fans something as she called it, “Futuristic & Fresh”. She wants to give them something they have never seen or heard before. In other words, she wants to have it where her fans can just get up and dance while also feeling the lyrics at the same time. 

Lipa performing Don’t Start now at the EMA’s

In the meantime, Dua has announced that she will be going on tour in Europe mid 2020. The new tour will showcase her brand new album that she is expected to released in 2020.

If you have not checked out “Don’t Start Now” yet, check out the brand new worldwide sensation or a.k.a., the best song out right now below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oygrmJFKYZY

The Scary Future

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What is a climate activist? Who is Gretta Thumberg? Why have “#ClimateStrike” and “#FridaysForFuture” become trending hashtags/topics worldwide? Although these terms are almost unheard of in Texarkana, they continue to take the world by storm as society begins to acknowledge the clock is ticking on our planet earth. 

Gretta Thumberg is a 16-year-old climate activist who influenced the Fridays For Future movement. Climate and environmental activist are just what they sound like; people who are protesting to make changes in an effort to protect our planet and slow down the irreversible effects of climate change. Thumberg began a climate strike in August 2018, skipping school on Fridays to protest outside of the Swedish Parliament, holding signs and passing out flyers. Thumberg quickly caught the attention of local media outlets which helped spread the movement, these strikes have now spread to almost 150 countries. September 20th-27th was Global Climate Strike Week, where protests occurred worldwide leading up to the United Nations Climate Action Summit.

The U.N. Summit happened on September 23rd with an estimated 7.6 million people protesting throughout the week in an effort to show a demand for change. Thumberg delivered a powerful speech, scolding the world leaders for the way they’ve prepped planet earth for her generation. The U.N. supported the protests, hoping it would encourage countries to come with solid plans for major changes in the near future. However, many were left disappointed as some countries, including the United States: one of the worst perpetrators of emissions, did not attend the summit. Others attended with weak plans that would barely keep the temperature survivable for long.

The U.N. Summit concluded with both hope and fear. Key messages from the SDG Summit read: “…it is clear that the world is not on track to meet the SDG’s by 2030. The future is now, and the Earth’s systems are changing quickly.” However, the great outcry for change across the globe shows there is hope for a climate revolution, which has become necessary for survival of our younger generations. Young leaders like Thumberg need to stay strong in their battle as they continue to inspire and inform others about our struggling planet.

Syria Dilemma

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The war in Syria has been an ongoing issue for six years complicated by the third party involvement of the terrorist group IS; better known as the Islamic State. Syrian civilians are struggling to continue their everyday lives between the fighting of three different armed forces, each with a goal of its own. Although I believe the country would be better off without Bashar Al-Assad as president and my morality is tested by hearing of the unfair impact the Syrian Civil War has left on its citizens, I do not think we should get involved in such an entangling war.

This ongoing conflict was started by the controversy of a thirteen year old boy spray painting a slanderous message about the government regime under Bashar Al-Assad. The young boy was apprehended, tortured, and killed by Al-Assad’s forces, actions greatly displeasing the citizens in Syria. Civil protests soon followed but were countered by government and military interventions. Many factions formed to fight against the “corrupt” Syrian government as a result of forceful oppression from Al-Assad. Today many of these have converged into the Syrian Opposition, Ahrar al-sham, Tahrir al-sham, CJTF-OIR, and the Rojava, the latter two supported by the United States and other participating countries in the United Nations.

Photo Credits The National

The more complicated aspect of the fighting between the government and the rebel forces is a third force also trying to gain control of the region; the Islamic State. The Islamic State is a terrorist group well known throughout the Middle East for radical ideology and brute force. Because of the already weakened state of Syria the IS were able to gain land and power and become a strong belligerent. The United States already has a long history with this radical terrorist group.

Our ongoing involvement in other Middle Eastern affairs, such as the constant battle against radical Islamist terrorism of groups like IS, has cost the United States in money and American troops. It is hard to imagine all of that sacrifice to protect and preserve innocent people involved must be for “nothing” if we do not follow through, but it just might be an answer to the never-ending economic stress that comes with being a global morality monitor.

Photo Credits to The Daily News Hungary

If a “one-or-the-other” approach must be taken then it is more economically feasible for the United States to set aside its steadfast promise to uphold a certain global morality, and focus on self-defense and self-preservation. However, if a healthy middle were needed to be obtained then my suggestion is that we carry out our agenda with the radical Islamic State that has begun to overrun Syrian lands, and then to respectfully allow the Syrian citizens and its government to reach an agreement with the facilitation of members of the United nations that are closer to the conflict and more heavily involved.

Controversial Kaepernick Nike Ad

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Nike released an advertisement last week with Colin Kaepernick. It is a close up photo of Kaepernick’s face with the words “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything,” a reference to Kaepernick’s protest against police violence against unarmed black men in America by kneeling during the national anthem. Kaepernick, who led the San Fransisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2013, is a free agent who has not played in the NFL in over two years. He recently filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging collusion to keep him out of the league. With his kneeling for the anthem a hot debate topic of the past two years, Nike likely expected this ad would lead to mixed reactions around the country. Even after making it clear he was not protesting the National Anthem itself, many are critical of Kaepernick. Many who do not support Kaepernick’s protests are now boycotting Nike. Videos surfaced on social media of people burning their own Nike shoes. Along with the scrutiny, there has been many supporters of the Nike ad, and many other professional athletes publicly state they stand with Nike.

President Trump commented on Nike’s move by tweeting “Nike is getting absolutely killed by anger and boycotts”. Nike’s stock fell by just over three percent the Wednesday morning after placing the ad. However, Nike does not appear intimidated, as their stock is up over 50 percent from last year. Nike was well aware of the criticism to come, this not their first time sponsoring controversial athletes such as Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant. A large percentage of those now boycotting Nike happen to be older people, who are not a priority market target for Nike. Many of the company’s consumers openly stand with Kaepernick.

Nike wanted to make a bold statement on where they stands on this social issue, and they did just that. Large corporations typically avoid showing their stance on political and social issues. However, Nike CEO Mark Parker has openly criticized President Trump’s immigration policies. Nike was a major topic in the media in the week after the ad. Company stock fell by about four percent in days following the ad. Despite the fall, the Nike believed this would ultimately help the company long-term. It appears Nike made a good move, as their stock hit an all time high after the initial drop.

Many who do not support Kaepernick and his decision to kneel during the anthem may now realize they have misunderstood Kaepernick’s actions. The Nike Kaepernick advertisement could be a huge step for those who don’t understand the actual purpose of Kaepernick’s protest. While there has been much buzz, some good, and some bad, one thing is clear; Nike stands with their athletes.

Fear of Losing Connection — to Safety

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Sit up straight. Cross your legs. Carry this pepper spray at all times. Call me when you leave. Listen to your surroundings. Don’t go anywhere alone. Keep the police on speed dial. Don’t stay out past dark. If you do, you’ll be asking to get assaulted. It’s scary being a woman. In a matter of one week, at least 3 women from across the United States appeared on our local Texarkana news station as physically assaulted and beaten by men in broad daylight. 2 of these women died. Did they ask for this? Seeing the horrifying and gruesome images cast on-screen, alongside the details from the sole survivor, pulled me back to a recent concert I attended in Shreveport, Louisiana. Originally I was going to write a review, but there’s a more pressing issue here. There were no cellphones allowed at this concert.

Some might argue that it’s just Gen Z/millennial exaggerated worry of exiting the digital world, but it goes deeper than that. The worry wasn’t a loss of letting everyone know I was at a concert. The problem became more intense every time I had to leave my seat. True enough, the of exposure to stories of pain rather than pleasure skews our perceptions a bit, but the fact that my first thought when told I wasn’t allowed to have a form of digital communication was not ‘how will my friends know I’m having a good time,’ but ‘I shouldn’t go to the bathroom by myself.’ The fact that this occurs to women to the extent it does is disgraceful and disgusting.

According to NPR, in 2018, 81 percent of women had been sexually harassed at some point, with 77 percent having been verbally harassed, 34 percent being followed, and 27 percent being sexually assaulted. And the fact that one cannot google search the amount of women assaulted in a time frame without running into anything but sexual assault cases is baffling. Understand that women who feel this way aren’t just terrified of rape. Fear of leaving the side of someone else for various reasons strikes some women. These include being beaten to death, being raped, being shamed for being raped and wanting to abort a fetus that resulted from it, being shamed for what they wear, hearing people say that they could have prevented it, and the list goes on.

This is in no way meant to say that men do not experience some of the same things, but they certainly do not to the same extent (a Huffington Post article says that 90 percent of rape victims are women) and cannot fully understand the scope of the matter because they have not lived it. This is true for any situation involving someone of a different gender, race, or ethnicity. We cannot begin to comprehend some of the things our brothers and sisters have experienced. For this reason, women all over are just begging anyone to listen, a basic human interaction that many women don’t always get.

In terms of cell phone use, the problem with taking them away during a large public event where everyone are strangers is that something terrible, like the above mentioned beatings, could happen to anyone. But, as a woman, I felt more threatened. Accompanying men thought I was being ridiculous, but that is the meaning behind saying it’s difficult to understand if you haven’t been there. And, whether it’s the media or a random stranger who doesn’t know anything about the victim, someone will offer the ideas mentioned above: that they did something to deserve this, that they could have prevented it, and so on. And if they’re lucky enough to survive, they have to live not only with the traumatic experience, but also the pain of harsh side glances and crude gestures.

The gender problems in society run deep. Having to raise our daughters to constantly watch their backs, only wear one ear bud at a time, make sure their always wearing long pants and t-shirts, and so on, is terrifying. Having to design products specifically for women, like bejeweled pepper spray or security bras is insane. The problem has shifted from needing protection to needing self-defense training and better human interaction education.

So, don’t stand around and wait for big companies to tell you what is safe, because, despite rape incidents dropping sixty percent since the nineties, an alarming number of our women are still experiencing issues and feeling trapped. Get out there and fight for a better future, not just for you, but for your daughter, mother, girlfriend, self.

The Return of the 19th Century

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Begone high waist shorts, belted swim suits and strappy sandals! Summer fashion has come to an end. It is now time to prepare for the return of the 19th century. The season of boots and scarves are about to take its rightful place among us.

Courtesy of Vogue

Fall officially begun September 22, 2018 and so much is in store for the fall fashion season. The new trends to be on the lookout for this Fall 2018, are going to be a sight to see.

Starting with both Checks and Plaid, a popular trend from the 1800s until the late 1890s. Plaid is perfect for the fall and extremely versatile. Plaid and checks can be styled as casual or upscale. Designer Christian Dior has already been seen with plaids on his runway!

Fashion Designers are beginning to add more Gloss and Leather to the market. Fashion is taking it back to the 40s and 50s with this style.

Courtesy of New Leather Jacket

Styles inspired by the Late Michael Jackson, dressed in his red leather jacket with the strappy bottom, are a LOOK.

Think big – very big.  Upgrade your denim. Go loud with your colors and remember real animal clothing isn’t as comfortable unless it’s on a heel or boot. Returning to the market this fall will be Animal print. Animal print has been around since the early 1920s. Models have been captured wearing animal print while being on the runway, for The New York fashion week.

Courtesy of Yoox

Celebrities have been spotted cheetah blazer coats, dresses, and shoes from designers across the globe like Dolce&Gabbana, Caroline Charles, M&Co., ASOS, and Missguided.

Remember 80s cocktail designs? Miniskirts, bandage dresses foil and big shoulders. Saint Laurent has designed a fashionable blazer with floral print and exaggerated shoulders to die for!

Cover your head all fall with a fashionable hat. Head fashion can be seen on citizens across the world. Oversized topper have been a thing since the 70s. Imagine this, an all red outfit with red shoes and a cheetah hat. The cheetah topper was so simple that it completed your whole outfit.

You can’t step into fall without that perfect shoe. Tis the season of boots, boots, and more boots. There are slouch boots, ankle boots, knee boots, booties, over the knee boots, thigh boots, lace-up lug, combat boots, and of course cowboy boots. Boots are available in all shapes, colors and prints to go right along with the Fall fashion trend that’s coming.
Mules and slides are also important and breathable. These two can be perfect for any business casual look.

Courtesy of Highsnobiety

Who doesn’t enjoy a great pair of Sneakers? Sneakers can also be key look to your fall fashion statement, especially when matched with a cute jumpsuit, sweat suit, wind breaker or sweatshirt. I know I’ll around campus in a few sporty chills looks myself. Brands like Nike released  Nike Air Span 2 Premium “Desert Camo” on September 6thand Skepta x Air Max Deluxe on September 8th. Adidas released their new line of Yeezy with Kayne West on September 15th.

When shopping for your fall clothing this season, never forget the words of The legendary Coco Chanel “The best things in life are free. The second best are very, very expensive.”

JFK In Pop Culture

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John F. Kennedy was the 35th president from January 31st, 1961 until his assassination on November 22, 1963. It is common knowledge that Kennedy was in Dallas Texas as he traveled in a motorcade when Lee Harvey Oswald killed him. He was the sole perpetrator of the assassination and Oswald was also assassinated two days later on November 24. Lyndon B Johnson the current vice president then became president just minutes after J.F.K was pronounced dead.

J.F.K has become a pop culture icon because of all the conspiracies that surround him even including the “Happy Birthday Mr. President” that was sung by the glamorous Marilyn Monroe. This song had affair rumors flying back in the day.  I enjoy conspiracies theories! I am not saying I believe in them, but it is interesting how different people can take a set of information and interpret it in their own way. So who killed J.F.K and what is up with the newly released files?

The Mafia took him out. This conspiracy implies that a Chicago mobster had the money power and influence to have J.F.K killed because of Robert Kennedy push to stop the mobster’s drug activity. What makes this theory appealing to others is because Lee Harvey Oswald is killed by Jack Ruby who had connections with the Chicago Mobster.

Lyndon Johnson was behind it.  A theory suggests that Richard Nixon and Jackie Kennedy believe this theory because Johnson had the most to gain from J.F.K’s death. Most of the evidence to back this claim up is based on rumors.

The Oswald Conspiracies. One theory suggests that the KGB hired Oswald to assassinate Kennedy because he was an undercover Soviet agent. However, this theory did not hold up as later released documents suggested that Russia actively avoided recruiting Oswald as they deemed him mentally unstable.

Another theory involving Oswald linked him to the New Orleans Conspiracy where a right-wing businessman got Oswald to be the patsy since the businessman did not want peace negotiations to begin with Russia. The plan was to hire Oswald, arrange the shooting, and get back to New Orleans that night. The businessman was later arrested and went to trial over these allegations, but the jury found the case groundless and dismissed it.

The third conspiracy directly involving Oswald proposes that he couldn’t have fired the shot that killed Kennedy. The conspiracy states that Oswald was shooting from a 60-year-old rifle that was hard to aim let alone almost impossible to shoot three shots in eight seconds. It also stated that Oswald was not that great of a marksman. Later investigation proved this theory false because his wife said he always was practicing with this gun and Oswald did have a marine background. When the shooting of J.F.K occurred, he was only 90 meters away from Oswald and J.F.K. was moving slowly. In the marines, they practiced shooting at 200 meters, so J.F.K wasn’t even half the distance Oswald was used to shooting. Also, the Warren Commission and even CBS news organization duplicated the shot several years later with the same model weapon and overall conditions and proved that it was possible to take the shots within 8 seconds with most marksmen hitting the target 2 out of 3 times.

Some of the files revealed that;

  • The FBI knew there was a threat to Oswald life before he died.
  • Oswald contacted the Soviet Embassy inquiring about a visa.
  • The documents stated that the CIA looked into whether Hitler was alive in Venezuela
  • Several memos revealed plots to kill Castro from poisoning his swimsuits, to putting a bounty on his head, although the price of his head has been debated.
  • A CIA document notes they were looking into Martin Luther King’s companions thinking most of them had communist ties.

For more information visit http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/26/politics/jfk-file-release-highlights/index.html

Terrifying Social Media Game – or Hoax?

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Parents around the globe are filled with anxiety, as police warn of the possibility of a new game on social media, called the 48 Hour Facebook Challenge.

A mother in Northern Ireland claimed her daughter was missing due to the game.  Though no one knows for sure if the game is real, the threat is alarming for parents, especially in the Texarkana area. Snopes.com says the game is a hoax.

The rules of the game have kids trying to earn points by having their names mentioned in Facebook posts or by receiving likes and shares for posts featuring them after their staged disappearance.  Participants in the challenge have 48 hours to get the highest score, before coming forward and letting everyone know they are safe.

In the past two weeks, three teens have gone missing in Texarkana; 15-year-old Austin Ariniello, 14-year-old Justyn Coe, and 17-year-old Spencer Martin.  Austin Ariniello has been located and is safe.  Spencer Martin, had only a BOLO (Be on the Look Out) issued for him.  There have been no follow-up stories on the whereabouts of the other two teens.  There is no evidence to suggest these teens had anything to do with the 48 Hour Challenge.  And furthermore, there are no confirmed reports of anyone participating in the game.  Still, parents are fearful.

Facebook is currently investigating this sick game.  Keep up with this story in Eagle Eye.

The Need For History

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Anthony L. Hamilton

I have been paying really close attention to the things that are going on, not just in the United States, but all over the world recently, and in my eyes, the 1960s are repeating right now.

In the 1960s we were involved in a war we couldn’t win called Vietnam. This war ruined the lives of countless American military personnel, and frankly it was a war that we should have never become involved in.

Fast forward to the present, President Obama has his own Vietnam to deal with, and we are involved some missions that we shouldn’t be involved in.

We are dealing with people who have no conscience, and will do almost anything for the sake of trying to dispel Democracy.

The sad thing is that a lot of these terrorists were actually trained by our military supposedly enabling them to fight other groups in their regions, yet they continue to turn on us, and people seem to have no idea why we have trouble defeating them on the battlefield.

My problem with the whole thing is that those people have been fighting since Biblical times, so how does anyone think they’re going to react when we go on their soil and try to force our way of life on them? I don’t by any means condone what they do, but how does any person feel when someone else tries to force their way of living on them? You will constantly get rebellion.

I am a retired military member, and there are two blatant mistakes being made that are going to make war increasingly difficult to win. The first is the fact that the media has too much access to military operations. Every time a news anchor on location signs on and tells where they are, not only are they telling the American people, but they are also tipping off the enemy. This began towards the end of my career, and at that point, the writing was on the wall.

America has also shifted too much towards relying on technology instead of manpower to try and win wars. In the process, military numbers have shrunk to the point that soon it will be impossible to protect home, and fight war abroad, and as far as using technological warfare, the Chinese have shown they are superior in this area. Should we ever enter a war against them (as I personally believe), not only will we be outnumbered, but most technology comes from China, so they know just how to “run interference” and make sure your weaponry is not functioning properly.

I believe (and this is strictly my opinion) that China is watching and waiting for that time when our enemies get our military forces spread too thin to protect our borders, and they will do what they’re going to do. (Those of us who are Christians, if you read Revelations, it speaks to this happening.)

Back in the 1980s a treaty was signed that was meant to cut down on the nuclear arsenal of Russia, and the United States. Now China has ballistic missile submarines, and Russia is building a new class of that type of submarines, and both have the capability of dropping a nuclear warhead on the United States.

I had a young man on Facebook during a discussion ask how knowing history would help us move forward. To him, I replied that knowing history helps to keep history from repeating itself. So I close with this question: when history is allowed to repeat itself, you have old problems rearing their (sometimes) ugly head, and then you have to solve them. At that point, are you really moving forward?

Nobel Literature Winner Puts Belarus on the Map

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Garrett Griffin

Svetlana Alexievich in 2015     Courtesy of Deutsche Welle

Svetlana Alexievich in 2015                                                  Courtesy of Deutsche Welle

 

When one thinks of Belarus, what normally comes to mind? You may get a response such as “It’s that country somewhere by Russia” or even “Bela-what?” Now, though, everyone will know it as the country from which the first woman, Svetlana Alexievich, to win the Nobel Peace Prize in journalism calls home.

Alexievich is well-known for her hard-line writing of events in plain language that conjure gut-wrenching pictures in the minds of her readers. Much of her writing works to cross a divide that exists in literature whereby the story is not told in her own voice but in that of a non-conceited voice of an oral historian. Her goal is communicate basic human feeling and by this method she executes this without implanting unintended biases. The topics of her works all revolve around the histories of Russia and other, formally Soviet, countries.

In her own country she is secretly admired. The authoritarian government, for concern of retaining power and peace, do not want to mention the existence of challenging voices. Alexievich, who is currently 67, published her first book 30 years ago. Despite relative obscurity to the mainstream public since then, she now has global notoriety. The government-controlled news hesitantly made a small mention of the award’s presentation to Alexiaivich and the president of Belarus even congratulated her on her achievement.

The tides of post-soviet history are beginning to go back out to sea, leaving space for modernistic ideas to penetrate the once unsolvable autocratic governments of former Soviet states. With the help of literary activists like Alexievich, the world is becoming a better place every day.