Category: News

Texas’ Recent Snowstorm Disasters

By: Julia Zhou

Lately, it’s become apparent that temperatures are dropping all over the world; here in New Jersey, we’ve been confined to our homes because of heavy snowstorms. However, shockingly, Texas is suffering from even greater storms plaguing its residents, these enormous and lethal. Other Southern states have also been affected as largely. 

All over Texas, power plants were paused suddenly when frigid temperatures froze their supplies of natural gases. Even with functioning gases providing energy, pipes closed up with ice and slush, clogging the channels and hence ceasing all heat and electricity consumption temporarily. At such times like those, heat was at high demand, which only further strained the power plants. Other types of power plants were also affected, like with wind turbines frozen to their positions. 

These conditions rendered citizens completely helpless, even ending the lives of some. Because of lack of heat, some contracted hypothermia. Less natural causes second-handedly affected by the storms like fires and road accidents were common; some attempted to warm up in their cars and were poisoned by the gas emitted (this is a common cause of death, by the way. It’s deadly to sit in a car in an enclosed space with the engine running, as it emits carbon monoxide).  Additionally, because of the halted movement in hospitals, patients declined. 

Plus, frozen pipes cut off water to some, bringing thirst to entire households. Otherwise, sewage or rust came off with it, making the water unfit or extremely hazardous to drink. To make the water suitable for drinking, water purification tablets or having it boiled was necessary, but the latter was virtually impossible due to power outages. 

Since the snowstorms hit so heavily, snow coated the streets of Texas and made travel difficult. Transportation was not recommended, except vaccination and food deliveries were essential, and were hampered or canceled by the ice on the roads. Grocery stores are closed. Imagine having to last a week on a meager amount of meals: that’s how dire the situation is. 

Energy costs have risen for Texans due to the rarity of electricity and heat in power plants.

President Joe Biden has declared Texas and other states in a state of emergency, so the Texans can expect immediate government action eventually.

Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/texas-winter-storm-explainer.html

Janet Yellen

By: Julia Zhou

Recently, when President Joe Biden was appointed to office, he nominated Janet Yellen to be the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. At 74 years old, she became the first ever woman Secretary of the Treasury.

As the Secretary of the Treasury, Yellen will be able to create new economic and financial policies regarding debt and taxes. Also, before her position in the Treasury, Yellen was also the first woman to serve as chair for the Federal Reserve Board, which supervises banks and “financial institutions”, making sure money is being managed correctly.

Yellen was born in 1946. At the beginning of her life, Yellen received a degree from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Yale. Later, she worked as a professor at many prestigious universities. 

Yellen became president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. During a destructive pattern of bankruptcy in the housing market for mortgage borrowers and lenders, Yellen foresaw the crisis.

Yellen believes economic markets are flawed, and helped create a model showing businesses “seeking maximum profits” should pay more to its workers, because flexible prices and wages will help the economy. This wildly successful philosophy became known as the New Keynesian Philosophy.

Yellen also stressed the importance of nonpartisan beliefs in the Federal Reserve Board. She built strict regulations for banks and financial institutions. Yellen is renowned for her good judgement and has served under President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.

Yellen’s new position may strengthen our economy and prevent any further crises due to unemployment and debts. Hopefully, her position can also pave a way for women leaders like Kamala Harris and herself. 

Sources: 

• Investopedia.com
• Reuters.com
• Treasury.gov
• federalreserve.gov

Biden’s Massive Stimulus Check

By: Julia Zhou

Recently, Joseph R. Biden has taken the position as our country’s President. One of his first decisions was to provide a huge COVID-19 relief package, or stimulus check: A whopping $1.9 trillion dollars! If you write it out, it’s 1,900,000,000,000 – almost 20 billions times a single hundred dollar bill. However, some government officials strongly disagree.

A stimulus check is something the (U.S.) government provides to its taxpayers, or ordinary citizens who pay taxes. People  pay taxes to build new roads or public buildings, like libraries, and for their children to attend public schools or charter schools, among other things. That’s how teachers are ordinarily paid. Every adult citizen must pay taxes, and additionally, there are many kinds of taxes. There are taxes to the government for the building of those things mentioned above, school taxes, taxes when buying things, and taxes when you professionally earn income. 

A stimulus check may be administered when something devastating and destructing occurs, like a major war, famine, or pandemic like nowadays. However, a stimulus check doesn’t have to be administered during those times – it simply is used to “stimulate the economy”, to get people spending money, so more money runs through people and businesses, thus “boosting consumption and spurring the economy” so people are generally happier and richer. Both cases are shockingly valid for our situation, with a harsh pandemic and many businesses/people losing money, then going out of business, becoming unemployed, and needing financial support.  This is why these days stimulus checks are more commonly referred to as relief packages.

Donald Trump, the former President of the United States (POTUS) did provide relief packages to the public in an effort to minimize the difficulty of these times because of the coronavirus. However, a trillion-dollar one is almost unheard of, unimaginable, even in comparison to that of WWII’s, at 12 billion dollars distributed among the West European countries, which is scarily almost 160 times smaller. 

Government officials, particularly Republicans, disagreed with this idea. They proposed a $600 billion dollar relief package ($600,000,000,000) which still seems considerable, but when divided among all the U.S. households, is smaller than previously decided. Mainly, however, Republican senators are deciding to “scale down” the stimulus checks for high income households with yearly incomes of more than 150,000 dollars. The Biden administration was willing to lower from 1.9 trillion, but not to 600 billion. Another proposal offers $160 billion for vaccine development and face masks along with other medical materials, with “direct payments” to families in need. 

The Democrats and Republicans are still in the stages of negotiation, and soon a vote will be passed to decide the outcome of their battle. 

U.S. Capitol Riots

By: Julia Zhou

 On the morning of Jan 7th, we awakened to a new graveness from the usually-peppy Mr. Richards in the daily morning announcements. After turning to our mothers and fathers, we were told of the skirmish the day before. Tuning in to each of our classes, we were greeted with silence and seriousness from our teachers, who told us about the events of Wednesday. What exactly happened January 6th, 2021? 

See here for a brief explanation of the election.

Donald J. Trump, our nation’s current president, took on ex-vice president Joseph R. Biden (Joe Biden) in this year’s election. In an intense sequence of events, Biden is now definitely the next President of the United States, a turnout which elicited anger from Trump’s supporters.

 Trump’s law making decisions and overall effect on our country especially during these times are quite controversial. However, during these 4 years of his presidency, he has amassed quite a base of supporters. As can be expected, they were furious when Biden’s campaign won the race to become president, staking claims of cheating and fraud on the basis of the unfairness of mail-in ballots and “computer votes”. As said by Trump: “By the way, does anybody believe that Joe had 80 million votes? Does anybody believe that? He had 80 million computer votes. It’s a disgrace.” 

On Wednesday morning, before noon, Trump rallied his supporters with a speech, inciting them with “false promises”, as said by The Washington Post. Trump told his followers to “show strength” and “don’t give in”, to “storm the Capitol”. The crowd roared in response to his words. Having been “incited” by Trump, his supporters carried out a meticulously-planned scheme. 

For four hours, thousands of Trump followers  entered the Capitol whilst  Congress members cowered under tables. The followers climbed the walls and stairs of the Capitol, breaking through the door and glass windows. They stole precious possessions of the U.S. government, like Nancy Pelosi’s lectern. The rioters carried flags through the hallways of the Capitol (particularly the Confederate flag, which is deemed as socially unacceptable and offensive). They roamed about with zip-ties, looking for Congress members to abduct. 

When the police approached them, they responded with violence, with crowbars and even guns of sorts. This resulted in a similar response from the police, with five deaths following the occurrence of the attack immediately, with one being a police officer, the other a woman shot in the chest, and the other three caused by medical conditions. Many later deaths after receiving medical attention were noted, and many police officers and rioters were injured.

Other than the protestors inside the Capitol, there were also Trump followers outside, surrounding the Capitol, and it’s security systems. Spectators along with the more timid Trump followers climbed trees, watching the violence and uproar. 

From both sides of the spectrum, there are vastly different opinions regarding the riot. Some believe the police acted on prejudiced and racist views. Some believe the shooting and arrests of Trump followers was entirely unjust. Some are proud of their comrades for standing up for what they believed in. Some are horrified by the outcome of November’s election. Some simply mourn their lost loved ones. One thing is clear: Though Trump may or may not have incited his followers, eliciting this response from them, their response was uncalled-for and unnecessary. Violence is never the answer. 

The words of Mr. Richards, our principal: 

“…it’s a very sad time for our country, but we will rise above this. Our nation is strong, it’s a nation of laws, and we have a constitution that will guide us to safe [inaudible]. I want you to know that you are safe, your family is safe, and we live in a democratic society that serves us very well. But [inaudible] that transpired yesterday was just wrong. Unacceptable. Violence never serves a purpose, ever. Everyone has the right to protest, everyone has the right to disagree, but there’s a right and a wrong way to do it, and yesterday what we all witnessed was the wrong way to go about doing such a thing. But know that our country is strong, we are resilient. The sun rises, this morning over a great, great country, which we can all be very proud of, so know that today – maybe, take a chance – that you have the opportunity to speak to a trusted adult, maybe your parents, someone who you respect, and have a conversation! See what they think. Certainly voice your concerns. Let them know what you see and what you think about, that you’ve seen. But by all means, have [inaudible] conversation today. Just know that we will be okay, so let’s all stand and pledge allegiance to our great country this morning,  and we will get on with our day.”

How this tremendous political divide came to be is not important; our next step is not to deduce that, but restore peace and “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.

Trump’s Impeachment

By: Julia Zhou

On the civilian streets, you may see bright-blue flags emphatically declaring four more years of Trump command, or yard signs shrieking: Trump-Pence! However, after his presidency of four years, former President Donald Trump has been replaced by now-President Joseph R. Biden. His management has been anything but anodyne, as seen by accusations of him inciting January 6th’s Capitol protests. Recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has proposed Trump’s impeachment.

Impeach: noun

1: to charge with a crime or misdemeanor

Specifically: to charge (a public official) before a competent tribunal with misconduct in office

2: to cast doubt on

Especially: to challenge the credibility or validity of

See: 

Impeachment

Impeachable

(From Merriam-Webster)

To be impeached is to be incriminated. In other words, it means someone accuses a government official of some sort of something, though it is possible for the official to be released of charges without leaving office and such. 

On the fateful day of September 24th, 2019, Trump suffered a first blow: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proposed Trump’s impeachment along with the “Formal impeachment inquiries” of six committees, meaning Trump would be forced to leave presidential office if Parliament voted to at a 2:3 ratio, because of his alleged “interactions” with the country of Ukraine. Trump was impeached but not removed from office, by decision of the Constitutional office due to lack of evidence.

Recently, prior to the raid of the U.S. Capitol, Trump was charged with “the Trump-Raffensperger” scandal, in which the Georgia Secretary of State was pressured into changing votes for the 2020 election in a phone call. Trump had been confirmed to losing the election, but Trump was not content with the outcome, resulting in his speaking to officials to change votes or recount ballots. This occurrence was, however, publicized in a recording of the call, with Trump asking Raffensperger to “find more votes” and seeming to threaten him.

On Wednesday, some weeks ago, Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol, resulting in 5 deaths on-scene and some resulting injuries later. Many arrests were dished out, and Pelosi and others proposed an impeachment of Trump, stating Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress for violation of federal law (unfairly getting or attempting to get votes) and inciting insurrection. 

On Monday, Trump and Pelosi will go to court for a trial. If the House of Representatives decree Trump’s guilt, he will face further legal charges.

Trump is the third president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon. 

He is the first president to be impeached twice.

Sources apnews.com

The Westfield Fun Club is a charity devoted to helping refugee families in need, and is directed and was founded by Jenny Tenenbaum and Alissa Berger. The organization works under the Temple Emanu-El of Westfield as well as the United Fund of Westfield. 

The organization began in 2016 when Alissa’s son Dylan was having his bar mitzvah, and a task for him was to do a good deed, called a mitzvah project. At the time, the Syrian Refugee Crisis was prominent. They became interested, and the temple and nearby churches were adopting displaced families to help them out by giving them things to settle down. Alissa and Jenny decided to become involved and adopt a family. They provided for their needs then met many new families and decided to start a homework club for the children, as they didn’t know English. The temple allowed them to use the school in the temple to teach the children and teach ESL and other extra-curricular. 

The organization is based in Westfield and run by the temple, and funded by it as well (and the fund), as it is not a non-profit and relies on these funds. Other profits stem from social-media, like Facebook. When they need donations, especially in these tough times, they reach out to the community, and receive donations of food and money. 

The club used to work by meeting on Saturday mornings from 10-12 am, and the 20-or-so refugee families were gifted goody bags. However, because of the pandemic, everything has been tough to navigate. There is now a huge issue of food and security – meaning the refugees are lacking food and are emotionally unstable. The refugee families had stopped working, and needed food and basic needs. The Westfield Fun Club would give their families weekly food baskets, but eventually the number grew to 125 families with about 5 people per family. The fun club is also offering homework buddies over Zoom, teaching extra-curricular activities, and getting the families’ needs food stamps don’t cover. Mainly, the club is learning on the go with the refugees, and it doesn’t have a set structure. 

The organization is made up of 50-75 passionate volunteers who are wholly devoted to helping the refugees. They are diverse and eager people, gathered by Facebook posts and emails. 50 high school students acted as homework buddies, on call every night, and volunteers constantly helped with deliveries and furniture moving. The initiative of the volunteers is very inspiring and emotional. The volunteers are very diverse and come from all sorts of backgrounds. They are of any age, any religion, and any race. These volunteers also are capable of numerous things, so whenever someone requests some sort of help, there is someone to match up with them and build a bond with them. The club does this by finding the strengths of each volunteer, then waiting for a request by phone. The volunteers are entirely willing. 

The Westfield Fun Club also offers emotional support over phone, as the refugees are suffering for PTSD and war injuries (they were removed from their country because of political conflicts like wars, unlike immigrants who immigrated to America by choice and hopes of “the American dream”), and pressure. They rely on the club for support, as they know nothing of America’s norms and language, and are pressured to support their children for them to succeed. The goal of the organization is to inspire other organizations to do the same (they have inspired the Jersey City Fun Club), and help the families assimilate. 

However, they are only helping the families get settled, and not make the families lost their heritage. They want the refugees to take charge of their lives. They also want to show even if the refugees’ position in the community has been lowered, they are still proud and grateful. Likewise, they want the best for troubled families. 

I think the Westfield Fun Club is a truly inspiring association/organization. It is helping the refugee families, and telling us that we’re all human no matter what situation we’re in. 

西地乐园俱乐部

侨报小记者周子言（六年级）写于新泽西

Westfield Fun Club（西地乐园俱乐部）是一家致力于帮助难民家庭的慈善机构，是Jenny Tananbaum和Alissa Berger建立的。这个俱乐部在Westfield的Temple Emanu-El和United Fund in Westfield的支持和监督下工作。

这个俱乐部开始于2016年，当时Alissa的儿子Dylan过了十三岁生日，做了犹太教的受戒礼，他的任务是在那年做一件好事。当时，叙利亚难民危机是很大一个问题。Dylan决定要帮这些难民家庭。后来他发现他们的教会正准备帮助3个难民家庭。 Dylan决定接手去帮助这些家庭。后来Alissa和她的好友Jenny成立了Westfield Fun Club，并帮助了更多新家庭的生活。 他们借用教会的教室，星期六早上十点至十二点聚会，平均有20个难民家庭会到场，为孩子们开一个作业俱乐部，帮助成年人学英语，还教他们一些课外的东西，比如空手道和美术。结束的时候每人会收到一个礼物袋，里面有够他们用一周的日常用品。

今年新冠疫情开始以后，很多难民家庭不能工作了，有了更多的食物的需求。 俱乐部会每周给家人提一大盆食物，而且逐渐变成了125个家庭需要帮助。后来政府给的食物券够用了，他们就帮难民家庭买卫生用品。接下来他们又帮助安排在家学习的资源，然后帮助有需要的人安排助教，现在每天晚上有50个高中生志愿者准备好当作业助手。志愿者甚至帮他们搬家，准备过节日。

俱乐部起初是用教会的钱，用完之后，Alissa和Jenny会上社交媒体募捐，比如Facebook，很多人给他们捐款捐物，非常慷慨。志愿者也是从Facebook和电子邮件上来的，不同年龄，从10岁到80岁，来自不同的宗教，不同的种族，不同行业。俱乐部通过努力找到有各种特长的志愿者来满足难民家庭的需要，翻译，画家，律师，特殊教育老师，志愿者们都非常愿意帮忙。

俱乐部还通过电话跟难民聊天，因为难民有人有战争伤害，还有生活的压力，想念家乡。他们中很多人都曾经受过很好的教育，有过很好的工作，他们失去一切来到美国，很多难民不会说英文，不懂美国的规范。为了孩子们过上更好的生活，他们做了很多牺牲，同时也要克服文化的隔阂 。

这个组织的目标是帮助当地的难民的家庭适应美国生活，同时也激励别人这样做，事实上他们已经激励了Jersey City Fun Club。接下来他们要帮助难民成立他们自己的自助基金会。

我认为Westfield Fun Club是一个真正鼓舞人心的组织，它正在组织平凡的人们帮助难民家庭。这个组织让我明白，无论我多么平凡，都可以有所作为。Westfield Fun Club让我想起我最近美术课上画的一个经典的圣经故事“好地撒玛利亚人”。在那个故事里，一个犹太人被抢劫了并且受伤害了，躺在路边，等着一个人来帮他，可是和他同一宗教的祭司和文士都没有理他。在这时候，一个撒玛利亚人路过了，决定帮那个犹太人了。那时候，犹太人和撒玛利亚人是互相有冲突的，但是撒玛利亚人还帮了另外那个犹太人。就像我们中国和美国正经历贸易战，然而疫情以来两国民间的互相帮助从未停止。正是这样跨越宗教的，跨越种族的，单纯的互相帮助，让我们的生活更美好。

Atlanta Shootings

By: Julia Zhou

3/21/2021

On March 16th, 2021, a man opened fire on three spas in Atlanta, Georgia. Many were killed, and the attack seemed to be racially motivated.

In the attack, eight people died, six of which were Asian women. The six were: Soon Chung Park; Hyun Jung Grant; Suncha Kim; Yong Yue; Xiaojie Tan; and Daoyou Feng. They were attacked at the Gold Spa, Aromatherapy Spa, and Youngs Asian Massage. 

The perpetrator of the shooting was Robert Aaron Long. He was a customer at the spas.

The reason for these actions? Government officials strongly believe that the attack was racially motivated. Because of the recent COVID-19 virus and its alleged ties to Wuhan, China, Asians have faced a lot of hate. Though some victims of these attacks have not been Chinese, their attackers based their actions on the belief that they were Chinese and had carried the virus. 

Some examples of this racism are shown even almost 3,000 miles away: just recently, a 91-year-old man was pushed down purposefully for being Asian is in California. He passed away from his injuries. 

The suspect of the shootings, Long, has argued that the attack was not racially motivated, but his argument still points towards bias against women. Female and Asian government officials like Thai Senator Tammy Duckworth have worked against this racism and discrimination.

Asian citizens of America, particularly in Texas, New York, California have protested against this violence. They’ve made a statement go viral: “I don’t feel safe anymore”. 

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have visited Atlanta, encouraging those among the victims of the Atlanta shooting to stay strong. Harris seems to have specifically connected with these events – she’s Asian and a woman herself. 

Though some may argue that Long’s actions were not racially motivated, Asians and women deserve respect. Regardless of the current events, Asians should not be shunned or violated in any way. Though we at the Monty Times cannot force your opinion, please consider our beliefs.

Sources: 

abcnews.com

texastribune.org

theguardian.com

reuters.com

Daylight Savings 

By: Julia Zhou

3/13/21

If you take a look at the calendar, you’ll see that March 14th is marked: Daylight Savings Begins. No, this is not a national holiday, so sit right back in your seat before you run off thinking you’ll get a day off from school. Daylight savings time (DST), daylight savings, or summer time is a practice during which most people set their clocks an hour ahead. But why?

Benjamin Franklin first thought up the idea of daylight savings. During his time in Paris, France, he wrote a letter back to the colonies of his idea: during the summer, time should be thought of as an hour later, so that extra sunlight could be enjoyed and energy could be saved. The science behind it? 

There’s actually not much science behind daylight savings time. If a person’s full-time job ended at 6:00, since during the summer the Sun begins to set later, and they’ll end work earlier than usual, they’ll have more sunlight in the evening to enjoy. To summarize, daylight savings is beneficial to people with set hours of work and play: Adults with full-time jobs and children in school. With daylight savings, an extra hour will be available. 

When daylight saving time first began a century after Benjamin Franklin thought of it, farmers and early risers claimed setting clocks and general understanding of time ahead would cut short their morning light. However, daylight savings has been widely accepted in most households. 

With an extra hour of daylight for recreation, less electricity will be used. Observe your parents: do they practice daylight savings? 

Sources:

livescience.com

webexhibits.org

Six of Dr. Seuss’ Books Banned

By: Julia Zhou

3/16/2021

Since the late 1900s, Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, has been a source of entertainment and tradition for children and adults alike. His most famous works, like The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, The Lorax, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham, and more have helped build a multi-million dollar industry of children’s books. However, some of Seuss’ books have been controversial, and have now been banned.

Six of Dr. Seuss’ books –  And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer – will be banned from bookstores like Barnes and Noble and eBay due to racist imagery. 

To clarify, “racist imagery” means drawings which show certain races of people in a way that is offensive. For example, an artist may draw an Asian person with slanted eyes, buck teeth, chopsticks, and a long braid, as is a common stereotype of Asian (most likely Chinese) people. But, this stereotype is not true almost all the time, and can come across as racist to some. 

In Seuss’ case, he did portray Asians in this way, and portrayed African American people in an exaggerated way. In some of his books, he drew Asians with the stereotypes as seen above and drew them like they had a lower social class than white people – the Asians carried the white people in some of his drawings and the white people carried weapons to show intimidation. 

Dr. Seuss had a history of racist imagery. Especially during the second world war, he drew art for propaganda to convince people to pay taxes. He also drew caricatures of German and Japanese people, most notably of a crowd of Japanese men in line to receive bombs, which was published after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Additionally, his stories have been racist or offensive to foreigners. One of Seuss’ strips showed a man passing through a store and buying an African American slave, and another said ‘… and the Wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones… But those were Foreign Children and it really didn’t matter”. Another strip showed the differences between a Chinese and Japanese man, which was racist to both. 

Some people have argued that Dr. Seuss was a satirist and was simply joking through his art and stories, and his step-daughter has spoken out about his alleged racism and denied it. However, the final choice is up to you: was Dr. Seuss truly racist or not?

Sources: