Tag: Opinion

OPINION: Trump’s Fast Food Buffet was Good

By Nick Baum

WEDNESDAY – 1/16/19

Photos posted by Trump, The White House, and more official accounts of President Trump welcoming recent National Championship winners Clemson shows the President with a feast of various fast foods around him. Criticism immediately followed the post, but what the various posts and shots at Trump fail to realize is that the feast isn’t for them, it’s for the players.

Many took cheap shots at President Trump for hosting the buffet, including how he has millions of dollars and that it lacked respect, despite the fact that he paid over $3,000 for the various fast foods, and that the players actually enjoyed the meal. “Almost nothing remained,” quoted Donald Trump, referring to the buffet, “the players really enjoyed their meal.”

Not only that, but despite denying a false quote, Clemson star quarterback Trevor Lawrence said he enjoyed the food, and the White House visit, and due to what was remaining, the players did, too. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how fancy the food is on the table, or what you dress up as to dinner, but food is something that everybody can enjoy, and the amount of money you pay for something shouldn’t judge how much respect you put in.

Trump was put in a difficult situation, he simply couldn’t pay his cooks that weren’t covered under the shutdown. I’d personally rather take a welcoming environment with foods I like rather than a more professional and less comfortable environment with fancy, less likable food. The media and press shouldn’t speak for the players, they aren’t their voice. Instead, stop judging and let people eat food!

Sources and Pictures: Flickr, CNN, New York Post

OPINION: Who’s to Blame for the Government Shutdown

By Nick Baum

THURSDAY – 1/10/19

The partial government shutdown has now reached 19 days with very little sign of an end in sight. But as the days with empty department headquarters drags, so does the number of fingers pointing in different directions. What many individuals and the media fail to realize, though, is that both sides are to blame.

Both Senate Republicans and Democrats acted hastily with one another when voting on a temporary government funding bill, mostly in part due to the $5 billion border wall that was a key part of Trump’s campaign promises. The wall is fine, in fact, it is one of the most efficient ways of stopping illegal immigrants. Even if half of all border crossings were stopped, we would save $64 billion in welfare.

Honestly, it’s on the Democrats if they don’t want to vote for the border wall. The fact that they would rather allow a government shutdown than protecting our borders and our citizens really makes you question the motives of their party. However, we shouldn’t act like President Trump and the Senate Republicans are innocent, either.

Donald Trump had stated multiple times that he was, “proud to shut the government down” and said that he could “keep the government closed for months or even years.” Not only that, but he has been met with conservative praise to shutting down the government, calling it a “win”. In fact, a bill sponsored by Senate Democrats to fund the IRS and tax filing agencies was blocked by Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.

While the reason for the bill being blocked could’ve been due to the conservative side’s dislike of high taxes, especially when a portion of the government isn’t operating, it is no question that both sides have responsibility on this pressing issue, that must be resolved soon enough.

Sources and Pictures: Wikimedia Commons, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC, Fox News

OPINION: Esports are not Real Sports

By Nick Baum

SATURDAY – 11/10/18

The craze over esports has grown and grown, and to be honest, I don’t have a problem with that. Video games are fun as heck, and competitive competitions are a great way to spread popularity, share skills, and all around have fun. However, you cannot call it a sport.

Sure, studies have shown that playing video games helps your mentality, it increases your alertness and is overall good for your mental health, but the definition of a sport is a competition or activity that requires physical exertion or contact. In esports, the most “moving” you do is moving your fingers and thumbs around pressing different buttons.

So stop comparing virtual athletes to real athletes. Stop comparing Ninja to LeBron James, the Overwatch World Cup to the FIFA World Cup, and overall esports to real sports. While video games are fun and I have nothing wrong with them or video game competitions, in the end, you can’t compare it with real sports.

Sources and Pictures: Flickr, Oxford Dictionary, IGN

OPINION: It was Wrong to Kick Sarah Sanders Out

By Nick Baum

MONDAY – 6/25/18

One of the biggest stories over the weekend was the controversial decision for the Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, to kick White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders out, simply because she was politically different and that they didn’t like her boss. While others claim that the restaurant was serving some LGBT members that asked for her to leave, even that excuse doesn’t play out. Sanders is the spokesperson for Donald Trump, who isn’t anti-LGBT, he just doesn’t think it’s a current issue anymore because it has been nationally legalized.

Others also claim that the restaurant has the right to kick her out, and in fact, yes, the restaurant has the freedom to do so. The baker case in the Supreme Court proved that you can be kicked out or refused service based on any aspect of yourself. However, kicking Sanders out is different than the baker refusing to serve the gay couple. Serving the gay couple went against the baker’s moral and religious values, and that serving them would be a violation or what he held so dear. However, the entire reason they didn’t serve Sanders was because she was part of an administration that she didn’t like.

Rep. Maxine Waters, a crazy idiotic congresswoman that even I think I can do better than, encouraged more people to harass and threaten Trump administration officials. Encouraging violence based on your political beliefs? That sounds like opposition Venezuelans being placed under house arrest, or people speaking out in North Korea, Nazi Germany, or the Soviet Union would’ve been treated. Is rep. Waters the true dictator? Besides her, it is all around wrong but legal to refuse service to someone just because they disagree with you, politically different than you, and/or because they work for someone you don’t like. Can she just enjoy a meal?

Sources: CNN, Fox News, Wikimedia Commons

OPINION: Tariffs Never Work

By Nick Baum

THURSDAY – 6/7/18

The news about tariffs in the most recent months is absolutely idiotic, but before I dive in let me explain exactly what a tariff is. A tariff is an added tax or price on a certain product that comes from another country. For example, President Trump had the US start its tariff program by adding tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, meaning steel and aluminum in the United States that came from China will be higher, which will force companies to buy from American workers.

So you can see why tariffs are used a lot, as it is seen as a way to protect American workers and sort of force companies to buy and hire American. Except, it doesn’t really work in real life. When tariffs are added in a certain category, it actually has a very low chance of actually helping the country’s workers, because usually, the companies who are most effected by the tariffs will either find a loophole, use a different material, or just take the same product from another country.

Not only that, but tariffs can easily backfire because it raises the price of products in America. If you’re shopping for clothes in America and you found something that recently had a tariff on, that price will rise, and in many circumstances, by a lot. Tariffs sometimes help American workers, but backfires when it makes it difficult for American consumers to get the certain product.

Donald Trump recently added tariffs in different categories on China, and the response is, well, you guessed it. Different prices are soaring, American workers are somewhat being helped, but now a trade war is occurring. A trade war is when different countries slap tariffs on certain products from the same country that slapped tariffs on them. Basically, it is an endless back and forth cycle of countries putting tariffs on different products.

Already, after the United States’s tariffs, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union decided to add their own tariffs, and that doesn’t even include China, which is most effected by this decision. Not only does this prompt poor relations, but it hurts the economy, because certain products have gotten more expensive. If it wasn’t for Trump’s tariffs, the stock market could’ve shot even further up. However, now it is rocky, not only the stock market, but trade relations with our closest allies.

Sources: CNN, Wall Street Journal, Wikimedia Commons, Fox News

OPINION: We Should Root for Trump’s Success

By Nick Baum

TUESDAY – 5/22/18

There’s a new term being said, “Liberals hate Trump more than they love America”, and no bigger example of that can be given than what their reactions have been these past few months. The US gains a serious foreign policy loss but its because of Trump? Hooray! Peace talks which were started by Trump have been threatened? Celebrate! That is the left wing mindset which brain controls them to hate Trump at all costs. Democrats can’t admit Trump has done anything good.

Take the U.S. – North Korea peace talks for example, because of Trump’s pressure on North Korea and Kim Jong Un, the country came out and opened itself up, including a planned summit between the nation’s leaders. However, Democrats will be Democrats, and they didn’t give Trump credit. They cited that it was Moon’s fault, despite Moon not even campaigning for pressuring North Korea and instead just letting it be for the mean time. Democrats might’ve not given Trump credit there, but when North Korea threatened the summit, that’s when they put Trump as responsible for the entire thing, and celebrated. They celebrated the fact that Trump lost, but at the same time America did.

So maybe that quote from earlier was right. Democrats and liberals do hate Trump more than they love America. Why else will they be rooting for Trump’s failures, which also means America’s failures? And why do they hate Trump’s successes if it means America’s successes? Democrats need to put their differences aside and root for America, instead of hating Trump. We should root for Trump because rooting for Trump is rooting for America. He’s the President. We want the President to do the best job as possible so it will be good for America. I don’t get why the left’s blind hate for Trump will be put first before their love for America. We are all Americans, not just Republicans and Democrats.

Sources: Vox, Fox News, The Weekly Standard

EXCLUSIVE AND OPINION: Ranking the Top 20 Cities for Amazon’s Second Headquarters (Part 2)

By Nick Baum

Note: DON’T READ THIS POST IF YOU HAVEN’T LOOKED AT THE ORIGINAL PART ONE. LINK HERE: https://thedailynick.com/2018/05/06/exclusive-and-opinion-ranking-the-20-cities-for-amazons-second-headquarters-part-1/

Ever since Amazon first announced they will build a second headquarters, 238 cities across North America sent bids in hopes to obtain the new headquarters, and now, only 20 remain, and the final ten of them will be ranked.

10. Denver, Colorado – The mile high city has been a commercial and tech hub in the mountain region, attracting startup companies for its growing population and skill set. The city also gives out tax breaks and has often looked up to larger companies, giving the city a chance.

9. Dallas, Texas – Dallas is a city that has all of the abilities and needs that Amazon is looking for. Transportation, check. Education, check. Innovation, check. What brings Dallas down however is other cities being able to do the same necessities, but better. Nevertheless, Dallas has a good shot

8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – The city of brotherly love has seen a massive breakthrough of innovation and commercial success over the past years, and doubled with close vicinity to New York City and other candidate city Newark, gives the city to admire.

7. Miami, Florida – Much like Philadelphia, Miami has seen a recent influx or corporations wanting to move to city that can offer more space and less tensions. Miami is also a city built on tourism and vacationing, not companies. So, while smaller companies might enjoy the increased chances of profit, Amazon might see some difficulty despite the abilities Miami contains.

6. Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Being the only Canadian city on this list, Toronto can perform differently from the rest of the mainstream American crowd, and his the abilities to use different strategies through tax breaks and incentives. Much like New York, it is a powerhouse and is the highest market in Canada, also bringing expensive costs into question.

5. Chicago, Illinois – The windy city is a city that can offer lots to Amazon. It has low costs, lots of commercial success, transportation and airports, and much more, only bringing into question the city’s high crime rate, looking rather unattractive.

4. Columbus, Ohio – This smaller city is still the biggest in Ohio, and can offer low costs as well as transportation between two other Ohio cities, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus has a relatively small market, but hopes for a new rebirth in the city’s economy if Amazon comes in, which is hopeful.

3. Northern Virginia, Virginia – This section of the state can offer the same benefits of Washington DC, but without the high tax rate and limited space. Innovation has been spreading throughout the region, with many companies calling the state home. That mixed with the amount of space available and tax cuts, means Northern Virginia is a top contender.

2. Austin, Texas – The capital of Texas is a very successful city that has been growing large in size ever since the great recession. Contrasting from other entries, Austin has a relatively conservative government, meaning there are more lower taxes as well as space for bigger companies. All in all, and politics aside, Austin has a major chance.

1. Atlanta, Georgia – What other city provides everything that Amazon is looking for in a new headquarters, but in such a good way? Atlanta. The city was founded as a major transportation hub, but has seen an increase in companies and corporations in the area. Atlanta gives plenty of tax breaks to both companies and movies, which is why many movies and tv shows have been shot there, including the Walking Dead, Stranger Things, the Hunger Games, and Baby Driver have been filmed there. Atlanta has the best shot, every requirement Amazon needs the city is one step ahead, making their chance the best of all.

Sources: CNBC, TheDailyNick (Part 1), Tech Crunch, Wall Street Journal