News Recap for March 16, 2019
March 15, 2019
- A tragedy of terrorism erupted yesterday, March 14, in New Zealand. Filming live on social media, a white-supremacist shooter arrived at two mosques and aimlessly murdered at least 49 worshipers; demographics ranged from women to men, and to children all while advertising himself and spewing hate in his live stream. Three people including the prime suspect have been arrested and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Adern stated that this is “one of New Zealand’s darkest days,” and directly addressing the perpetrator with asserting that “you may have chosen us. But we utterly reject and condemn you.” This is New Zealand’s first mass shooting in over 20 years, the last one occurring in 1997.
- While thousands of students have walked out around the world to protest the absence of climate change legislation, a United Nations report was released claiming that the Arctic was “locked-in” for drastic transitions. Even if carbon emissions were to reduce to zero by tomorrow, the Arctic would still experience an increase in temperature by up to five degrees Celsius or 41 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 3000. As global warming has already ripped apart the region, the intense changes will most likely impact globally, as warming temperatures and rising currents will heighten hurricanes and dryer forest fires.
- President Donald Trump imposed his first veto today on Congress. Legislators rebuked the national emergency that Trump declared last month to fund a border wall on the Mexican-American border. The House of Representatives and the Senate both were in majority for disapproving the allocation of 5.7 billion dollars from federal funds. Surprisingly, 12 Republican Senators sharply opposed the executive declaration, citing that it would leave leniency for Democratic presidents in the future to enact the same process.
- Another announcement by a Democrat has added to an already tight competition for president: former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke. His stunningly-slim loss in the 2016 Midterms against Ted Cruz sparked a national wave of support for the now-unemployed politician. O’Rourke’s grass-roots campaign has hopes to spark the same discussion, but the plethora of candidates running against Trump will lead to challenging decisions for voters.
