News and Entertainment
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U.S. plans U.N. Budget Cut
The United Nations was created to
maintain peace and security, as well as to
guard the rights of its citizens. As with
every organization, it requires funding,
and this is where things get controversial.
President Donald Trump said on Septem-
ber 22nd that the U.S. has been paying the
U.N. too much money for far too long.
Compared to other nations, accord-
ing to CNN, the U.S. pays over 20% of the
U.N.’s budget; however, the U.S. makes
much more money than the other nations
involved within the U.N.. The U.S. makes
up a quarter of the world’s yearly income.
The best country to visit
By Shelby Moquin shelby-moquin@ccaschools.org
Europe greets 616 million tourists
each year and that number is expected to
grow. According to the World Tourism
Organization, France is the go-to destina-
tion, topping the UNWTO charts over
and over again.
10% of the world’s GDP comes from
tourism, and the industry is growing. The
2017 UNWTO Tourism Highlights named
France as the top destination most people
go to. Close in second is the U.S, and
Spain falls in third.
Europe has been leading the Tourism
Industry for awhile now, and no wonder.
The rustic hills of Wales, the cobblestone
Deepfakes: A Concern for the Digital Era
Digital photo manipulation, or deep-
fakes, are becoming increasingly prevalent
on the web and forcing people to take
extra precautions to prevent themselves
from being caught up in this very danger-
ous up-and-coming trend.
The word “deepfake” refers to using
deep learning, a type of machine learn-
ing that can add anyone’s face to voice and
video. So far it has mostly been found in
the dark corners of the internet, but could
potentially pose a threat to politicians in
upcoming elections. The deep fakes could
be used to put things into their mouths
that they never said.
Deepfakes are named because it is
putting a face on somebody or words into
Lingering effects of disasters
By Lilly Shrock lillian-shrock@ccaschools.org
Water collects in Tiffin.
Disasters are happening all around
us. Whether they are small, large, or in
between, most likely all of us have heard of
a weather catastrophe in recent news.
Many storms have hit during this past
year. Natural disasters are destructive and
can be extremely harmful and the after ef-
fects are worse. They can hurt economies,
environments around them, and people
living in these places. Often the damage
lasts long after the event disappears from
mainstream news.
There has been a lot of rain occur-
ring around Johnson County. The end of
September and the beginning of October
have been the wettest time of the year so
far. The water has been rising in ditches
and lakes. This water travels back to larger
water sources with time, carrying chemi-
cals which contaminate from the ground
and on roads. “The Iowa River that runs
through Amana is still flooded,” explained
CCA sophomore Noah Banwart.
Flooding can mess with farms’ crops
and, in extreme cases, make it difficult to
get from one place to another. It can ruin
cars, costing money for people.
“The high amounts of rain recently
in Johnson County might carry animal
waste, lawn/agricultural chemicals, to pos-
sibly human waste from waste treatment
facilities and overflowing septic systems
to ditches, streams, and creeks,” explained
CCA science teacher Mr. Dilorenzo.
“Once this waste gets into the riv-
Compared to other global superpowers,
this is much more. China makes up about
15% of the world’s income, and Rus-
sia about 5%. Their income reflects how
much they spend on the U.N., China only
8% and Russia 2%.
Most countries have decreased the
amount that they individually pay over the
last 15 years because the U.N. voted for
the decrease. The U.S. has not but most
eastern countries have seen a major drop
over the last 10 years. The most extreme
drop has seen a 10% drop in the past 15
years by Japan. However, in 2001, the U.S.
streets of Prague, and the tranquil islands
of Greece make for perfect vacations.
The world has witnessed a large in-
crease of people traveling more for leisure
than business, and the number is expected
to advance. France does not fall short of
that, France receives over 83 million tour-
ists each year. A lot of them come from
connecting travels, meaning tourists that
are traveling to other countries often stop
through France before continuing on with
their journeys.
Some of the main attractions in
France consist of the Eiffel Tower, Palace
of Versailles, and The Louvre. The Eiffel
Tower attracts just around 6 million
visitors each year, heavily contributing to
the economy. France is largely known for
its artwork and architecture. But outside
the bustling city of Paris, there are quiet
villages ready to be explored, such as Cor-
sica, Lorraine, and Picardy. France also
has miles of beaches and hundreds of golf
courses with spectacular views.
someone’s mouth with AI technology. The
best public example of this right now is
one of for-
mer presi-
dent Barack
Obama
“deepfaked”
into saying
things he
definitely
would not
have said. In
the picture
below, you
can see
former
president
ers, it can prevent plant life from getting
required sunlight, choke aquatic life of its
necessary oxygen, and chemically alter
the water itself so that aquatic plants and
animals die.”
Down south, collecting in the bottom
shores of Louisiana, there was a dead zone
located near the gulf of Mexico. This was
due to the lack of oxygen and too many
nutrients being added into the water from
contamination on roads and land. The
zone is not habitable for creatures swim-
ming in the ocean.
While we don’t have hurricanes in the
Midwest, they are a major issue in states
around oceans. On October 9th a hur-
ricane named Michael made its way to
Florida. Heat in the Gulf of Mexico raised
and people were told to leave the beaches
and stay in their homes.
“After a hurricane, there is a great deal
of wind-blown trash that could contain
anything imaginable from human/animal
waste, building materials, broken and
spilled food matter, to lawn/farm fertil-
izers and chemicals,” explained Dilorenzo.
“Along with the high wind damage from
hurricanes is also high amounts of rain
that can carry all of that trash to larger
bodies of water,” he continues.
Hurricane Florence ruined the Caro-
linas. Over 30 residents passed from the
disaster. The roads in Hyde County, North
Carolina are flooded with water from the
hurricane. Homes are overflowing and
yards have become swimming pools.
By Zach Warren zachary-warren@ccaschools.org
received a 3% drop in paying the U.N..
“We will no longer let the generos-
ity of the American people be taken
advantage of or remain unchecked,” said
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, calling the
cost-cutting historic and promising more
to come. However, soon after she said this
she resigned amidst controversy.
Trump says that he will cut the
amount of money that the U.S. pays by
285 million dollars. This sounds like a lot,
but the U.S. will still be paying about 1.2
billion to the U.N.. Trump stated that he
knows many countries are angered about
New Coke to contain cannabis?
By Zach Warren zachary-warren@ccaschools.org
When people are told to think of a
soda, it’s usually Coke. Coca-Cola by far
is the most successful soda company in
history and still leads to this day in soda
sales.
In September, Coke revealed it had
been talking to Aurora Cannabis which is
based in Canada about creating a canna-
bis-infused drink. Coke acknowledges that
the cannabis-infused drink business is go-
ing to start booming and that they need to
get into the game while they still can. This
is in response to declining soda sales.
You won’t be able to go to your local
By Marcus Emmel
marcus-emmel@ccaschools.org
Barack Obama on the left, and comedian
Jordan Peele of Key and Peele on the right.
In this short
video that
can be found
on YouTube,
AI technol-
ogy allows
Peele to This
example,
however,
could eas-
ily have
been turned
malevolent
and used for
harm rather
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
as a rom-com
An editorial By Olivia Smyka
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before has
been a smash-hit with teen girls since
it was released onto Netflix this year in
August. Based on the book written by
Jenny Han, the movie follows Lara Jean,
a reserved teenager who has dealt with a
few crushes in her past. To cope with her
feelings, she wrote secret love letters to
every crush she ever had. She included
her crushes’ addresses on the envelopes,
and stored them in a box in her room.
One day, she comes to find that not only
are the letters missing, but they have been
sent out. What comes next is a crazy but
relatable journey that explores feelings of
romance and coming out of your comfort
zone.
Since its release, this movie has been
adored by many fans (mainly teenage girls,
the film’s target audience). To All The Boys
I’ve Loved Before is liked for many reasons,
one reason being its stellar cast. It stars
Lana Condor as the female lead Lara Jean.
The Asian-American actress was stoked
this cut, but it was required.
With this cut, many important
branches within the U.N. receive less
funding. A controversial cut was The
United Nations Children’s Rights. What
this branch does is protect children’s
rights, and provides protection, education,
and medical needs. Another is the De-
partment of Peacekeeping organizations.
Which as the name suggests, makes sure
that the world is at peace at all times.
While the cut may not have an imme-
diate effect, in the long term this will have
very dire consequences.
corner store to buy this new drink. Coke
purportedly wants to get into the medical
part of the business, which helps inflam-
mation, pain, and cramping. This would
be a “groundbreaking move that would
signal a significant foray into the mari-
juana sector by one of the world’s most
iconic consumer brands,” stated BNN
Bloomberg. “This also opens the door for
many other major corporations to get into
the cannabis infusion business.”
Coke and Aurora refuse to release
more details until the deal is finalized.
than good.
The biggest problem with deep-
fakes is how extremely believable they are.
AI technology has been steadily improv-
ing over the past few years, and now is
extraordinarily capable of manipulating
photos and videos, making something
fictional look very real.
Big tech platforms like Facebook,
Twitter, and YouTube are now moving to
fight against these threats of misinforma-
tion, a fight they didn’t even see coming.
Bobby Chesney, professor and associate
dean of the University of Texas School of
Law said on the issue, “The opportunity
for malicious liars is going to grow by
leaps and bounds.”
olivia-smyka@ccaschools.org
about having her first ever lead role in a
movie.
“I never thought that I was gonna be
a lead in a rom-com,” Condor admits on
NBC’s talk show Last Call with Carson
Daly. She believed that maybe someday
she would have a supporting role in a
rom-com instead. Being proud of her role,
she added, “...all I want is for younger girls
who look like me to see a familiar face that
looks like their own and think that they
can do this, as well, if they wanted to.”
Other terrific actors and actresses
in this movie include Israel Broussard as
Josh (one of Lara Jean’s crushes) and Anna
Cathcart as Lara Jean’s little sister. Another
one of the protagonist’s crushes, Peter, is
played by Noah Centineo. Centineo has
been described as “young, rich, hand-
some, and everywhere” by The Guardian.
Additionally, multiple media and news
companies have titled him “the internet’s
boyfriend” due to his rising popularity.
Another factor that brings about why
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is liked
by many is how it manages to be different
from a ton of other romantic comedy-type
films.
“I liked how it wasn’t like how every
movie is now,” expressed CCA junior
Samantha Scheetz. She explains how many
rom-coms made today seem to often
contain an all-white cast, a basic storyline,
and a handful of cliches. “It was different
and featured a character who’s [part of the]
minority.” Scheetz also mentioned that she
enjoyed how relatable the protagonist was.
Overall, To All The Boys I’ve Loved
Before has become well-known for various
reasons, and is definitely recommendable
for anyone who wants to watch a feel-good
teen romantic comedy.