Blog Post # 5: Antiwar & American Conservative Websites

Wow! Upon visiting Antiwar.com I was overwhelmed how much information is on the site. I'm not really a fan of how they played out the information on the site but overall it's in order of importance staring with the highlights and breaking news and then general news, viewpoints and spotlights. They also cover other countries which I thought was interesting. The first site I happened to randomly click on was Mariupol Is 'in the Hands' of Russia, Mayor Says which took me to Yahoo news. Most of the information seems to be coming from Antiwar.com but occasionally you will redirected to other sites.

These are multiple reasons why you would not see this kind of news is because it seems to be a independent news company that voices most of their opinions. Like me who heard of this site for the first time I think this site also does not get a lot of views which could have to do with why you do not see it in the mainstream news. Some of the articles redirect you to other sites which already arena the mainstream news that have their own channels like yahoo news does. The other reason why I do not think you would see this site in the mainstream news is because they would get backlash over their news and information where as keeping to an online presents will allow for them to be more open. I'm not exactly sure if the first amendment specifically talks about what you can or can not say online but from experience often times things posted online will never make it to mainstream news because it has gone too the extreme left or right.

The second website The American Conservative I liked a little big more than the first one. It's layout and design was more modern and pleasing to me not being too overwhelming. I've never heard of this site before because I most certianly do not understand the political lingo that much to even know who a conservative is. Without knowing what a conservative is I immediately get turned off by the site. I also feel that some of the mainstream news channels are much bigger the the American Conservative that that they get pushed to the top and is what you would see articles from first on places like Google news or MSN news unless you follow this site specifically. This site compared to the last one isn't as antiwar focused because the first article is when I was on the site was about Nuclear War and after scrolling a bit I found an article titled The Cause of The War. After skimming the article It was more about how the US is involved with "the war" or whatever you want to call it. You'll get references to WWIII and War related news but its using the world war and it's related words to describe how a war could start based on its headline but then when you actually read the article it's the complete opposite. In the article Did Blinken ‘Green-Light’ World War III? the headline suggests war might be upcoming but when you read the article it talks about how war is not really happening based on the the subject of the headline.

Specifically talking about websites on more on a digital sense you will need to seek out the more obscure antiwar sites because they do not want to risk getting flagged down and removed since the first amendment may not apply as much to the online content. I also think that people want to get the news and not so much here about extreme opinions so if you were someone that did you would have to seek out the sites yourself.

Me myself I want to hear the news as it's happening and and get the news based on someone's opinion rather then someone taking the news and skewing it to be completely different then what the news is trying to convey.

EOTO # 1/ Blog Post # 4: VCR/VHS

The VHS, known as the video home system or the VCR known as the video cassette recorder, was first introduced in Chicago at CES in 1977 (yes, the same CES that is now held in Las Vegas). As the naming suggests, the VHS was created for home entertainment in mind. Before the VHS came watching movies from your home wasn't a thing. You either had to go to the movies or watch what was on TV when it was on, or you missed it. VHS, which came first, made it possible for an entire movie that was 2 hours or shorter to be put onto a tape that could be sold cheaply due to two Japanese companies Named Sony and Japanese Victor Company (JVC). Home entertainment spiked in the 80s and paved the way for buying and watching movies at your own convenience. VCRs, on the other hand, were created in 1956 but weren't mass-produced until 1979.  

What made the VCR so popular is that it allowed you to hook up a VCR to your TV and record what was on your screen. With the VCR, a person's schedule didn't have to revolve around what was on TV because the VCR allowed you to set it to record your TV at a certain time and watch it later without missing out. The VCR is what paved the way for Digital Video Recorders (DVR), a feature in many cable boxes. 

Very shortly after VHS became widely available, a less popular video format known as laserdisc was created. Laserdisc is the precursor to DVDs with the most noticeable difference in size.

The difference between VHS and laserdisc is that VHS was analog while laserdisc and DVDs are considered digital, which has their advantages. With VHS, you had to manually rewind and fast-forward. This has its advantages and disadvantages. When you took out a VHS tape, it would remain at the exact spot you left off, whereas laserdisc would not save your spot. The downside of VHS is that every time you finish the video, you have to rewind it so that the next person can watch it. People got angry if they had to the previous person did not rewind the tape. 

Today we are up to 4k or 8k video resolution, but in the 80s, VHS had poor video quality compared to its digital counterpart. The color was also limited on VHS as it used composite color. As you can see, the DVD has more vibrant colors compared to VHS tape. 

Compared to discs, VHS was recorded on tape, which could be easily tampered with if you knew how to open the tape head manually when it was not being played. VHS tapes would deteriorate over time and get damaged if they weren't handled carefully. If a tape was damaged, it would sometimes result in weird effects on the screen when the tape tried to play over the damaged part.

The VHS had a big impact on our world as it paved the way for future formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. It s allows you to plug anything into your TV and be able to play whatever you want off of it. It also allowed for video recording on cassette tapes which I still find better than DVRs or any other digital way of recording media. With VHS and VCR, you own the tape that you recorded the video on. In contrast, you're storing the video in places that you do not own, such as cable boxes. It also allowed for video sharing. You could go anywhere, and the video would still be able to be played off of the VHS tape if they have a VHS player. 

In 2022 VHS is essentially dead for the most part unless you still own a VHS player and the tapes since we have more advanced ways of watching movies. Even though you may not own the movies nowadays, streaming has made it even easier to watch movies than someway VHS did, but it's still not as good as VCRs were for recording videos because of today's strict copyright protection laws, which were;t as big as they were in the '80s.  

If VHS/VCR never became popular, how we watch movies and shows might have changed drastically from what they are today.

https://www.video2dvdtransfers.co.uk/blog/2021/07/13/disadvantages-of-vhs-tapes/#:~:text=%20Disadvantages%20of%20VHS%20Tapes%20%201%20Rewinding%2FForwarding.,quality%20of%20VHS%20tapes%20is%20inferior.%20More%20

Blog Post # 3: Eight Values of Free Expression

I believe that the second speech theory participation in self-government is the most important more so then check on governmental power or self change. If you do not get up and make a wise and informed decision on who should be our electoral candidate then why should you have the ability to create self change or criticize the need to check on governmental power if you do not simply voice your opinion by voting in elections. Not everyone is going to make the right decision but voting is the starting point too many of the other 7 freedom of expression values. 

The second freedom of expression resonates with me the most due to the 2016 and 2020 elections. Starting with the 2016 elections
many said that the election was unfair because all of the Trump haters said that Clinton won the popular

vote. Voting in the United States is based on the electoral collage and is how Trump won the election of 2016. While the popular vote might have gone to Clinton It was said that the 2016 election was the biggest voter turnout among presidential elections. In 2020 Trump ran for his second term and ended up loosing to Biden. One major reason why Trump ultimately lost the 2020 election is because he did not have a plan slayed out for his second term in office and because he could not get COVID-19 under control like he said he would. American's unfortunately voted for a change in leadership but in a bad way. This election was my first election I was eligible to vote in.. My first election felt personal to me because I was able to participate in self-government along with other first time voters. I overheard quite a few people saying that they were going to vote for Biden over Trump not only because they were tired of Trumps actions and needed change but more on the Lins that Biden was not going to make it to the end of his Presidency and that his Vice President Harris was going to take over as the first female president in U.S. history. What stroke me was that people were in hopes that this would happen and not on what was actually going to happen. Since the election American's have been more divided than when trump was president because many realized after Biden became president how unfitting he is for the job that he really can not do. I can not speak for the people who voted for Biden but I feel that a majority of those voters did not make an informed choice on who they really wanted to be president.

Currently the news has quieted down around participating in self-government. The first big thing since Biden became president was his ability to perform his duties. People were proving that Biden could not speak without using que cards and he would fall asleep during important meetings. The news has said that Biden needs to take the cognitive test to prove that he is able to carry out his duties. People knew

ahead of the election that Biden may not be fit for the presidency but feared another term of Trumps so people did not care how fit Biden was to serve as president. The news also reported on Baden's low approval ratings which are lower then Trumps approval ratings and are the lowest in the history of any president. With Biden's low approval ratings anti-Biden supporters have started chanting "Go Brandon" which was started at a race car show by a racer named Brandon. The phase "Go Brandon" essentially means Fuck Joe Biden while in no way violating the first amendment to free speech it is kind of rude to say something like this to a president dose;t even realize he is bing made fun of behind his back.

During election time an overwhelming of platforms raise the need to vote in the presidential election and stating that it is your right to self-government. Many companies will post to social media to inform people to vote and to show others who are supporting their country by voting. During the presidential conventions celebrities from that side will also show their support to encourage Americans to vote.

Blog Post # 2: The History and Workings of The U.S. Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United States of America is the highest federal court system in the US. The Supreme Court is made up of nine justices who have the ultimate jurisdiction over every law ever created within the United States. The Supreme court is responsible for evaluating the laws so that they comply with the constitution.

Something I learned about the supreme court is the responsibilities that the Cheif Justice has. I did not know that Cheif Justice John Roberts was required to sit on the board of regents of the Smithsonian Institution. I also learned that the Cheif Justice presides over the trials of impeachment over the President of the United States. I knew the Supreme court has some involvement over the trials of impeachment but I didn't know the Cheif Justice had authority. I thought the Senete had most of the authority.

The simple but most important take-away about the Supreme Court is that they are the highest federal court system that serves for life or until they retire. It is also important to note that the President has the sole authority over picking the next Supreme Court Justice that serves for life so we have to respect his (or her) pick.

I do not follow Supreme Court cases religiously but I do follow major Supreme Court hearings that are publicized. The thing that surprised me to an extent is the notable Justices. I feel like with Biden's presidency I hear him stating that he will have the first this or the first that or will have a more diverse cabinate. Reading the notable Justices gave me insight to some of the people who served on the Supreme Court. I knew black colored individuals were elected to the Supreme Court and I did read somewhere that John Marshall was one of the most influential Justices. I still can't get over how long some of these members of the Supreme court are Justices for. Must be a hard job especially when you are picked out of the blue by the President.

https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts

Blog Post # 1: Five Top Sources of News and Information

Fox News

One of the news channels I like to follow is Fox news. I recently started following them after switching from what my family watches which was CNN. my political views started for form or change since the 2016 election. Fox is a republican based news channel and can often time be biased but I don't mind that. I'd rather hear someone criticize the government rather than hear the news as the government wants us to hear it. With the shift from a republican president to a democratic president I've found Fox to be more comedic. If I did not come across Fox new on Youtube or turn it on for special coverage of an event I mostly get my Fox news by enabling notifications for Fox news on Apple news. 

ABC World News

A source of news I enjoy watching is ABC World News with David Muir weeknights at 6:30. The world is jam-packed with information from the past day as Muir only has 30 minutes to report on the news. I've found it hard to watch ABC World News when I do not have access to a TV as only the previous day's shows are watchable. I typically want the most current news and not days old news. What I like about ABC World News is that it only reports on the big headlines in the world whereas the rest of the news on ABC throughout the day is more localized new most of which is New York City/Tri-State area based. I do not think there are any Northern New Jersey-based news channels that aren't located in New York City. World News is Perfect for someone who hasen't been exposed to the news recently or wants to get a quick rundown of the day's latest headlines in the world which Is why I absolutely love this channel.

Microsoft News

The most daily interaction I have with news and information is through Microsoft's news. They have or had a few different news sites such as MSN news Microsoft News and Microsoft Start. MSN News which can be accessed online, News can be accessed via the Microsoft Store app on Windows, and MSN STart which is Microsoft's newest rebranding of MSN News which can currently be found on the iOS app store. I utilize a form of Microsoft news when I access the internet through the new chromium Microsoft Edge. Microsoft news is similar to Google News. but can be more individualized and tailored towards you than Google and Apple news. It's baked into Edge's new tab page and every time I open up Edge or a new tab I get the latest news right in from of me. I open up a new tab a dozen times a day or more and every time I go I look at the headlines. I like to thrumbs up the stories I want to see more of and react using their emojis to show my emotions towards the article. Occasionally I will comment on an article if I feel it's impotent to express my feelings/view. Currently, I've been receiving royal news as the Queen is at the age where the concern is starting to arise and I want to be at the forefront of the news if anything happens. I also get informed about famous deaths which are precisely trimmed and usually ahead of other news channels. The downside of using personalized news is that you get repetitive news from different channels and only the news "you" want to see. 

News Max

When I am on Instagram (Not my social media of choice but my most used social media platform) I like to see the stories from News Max. News Max uses the stories feature on Instagram to relay the latest news of the day or week from their perspective. I enjoy seeing these stories as they make me more aware of what's going on when I am not somewhere where I can easily get access to more newsworthy information when it happens rather than when I find it or the news channel is ready to release a statement on it. 

Tech News

I love all things tech. I love educating myself on tech and keeping myself up to date with the latest on tech. I might have a biased for apple or to be more privacy-oriented and secure but that will not stop me from speaking out about tech. my favorite source is news about apple called Mac Rumors. They mostly like to leak apple products and information that may not be accurate or the first to report on it. They also compile rumors about upcoming Apple products and then fact checks when the product comes out which rumors were right and wrong and who they got their information from so they know how accurate of a leaker the person they got the information from is. I like Windows Central for Windows relayed products. They report on more headlines than rumors and they like to give you deals on tech products and information about upcoming windows releases that have been released by Microsoft and not leaked information. I also like Windows Latest, 9to5 Mac and 9to5 Google but their not my go-to for tech news. They are my secondary, if I do not think much, has been released by my go-to sites.