Xander Swain

OPINION: Trump falls flat in town hall

Posted by | Oct 22, 2020 | , |

The two presidential nominees held separate town halls Thursday, Oct 15.   The town halls replaced the debate that was supposed to take place the same night. President Trump backed out of the debate because he refused to participate in a virtual town hall, even though he recently tested positive for COVID-19.  Joe Biden’s town hall was held in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos moderated the town hall. While Biden was in Philadelphia, Trump’s town hall was held in Miami at the Pérez Art Museum. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie moderated the town hall.  Soon after Trump officially backed out of the debate, ABC picked up Biden to hold a town hall. Each town hall was held at the same time on separate networks with Biden on ABC, and Trump on NBC.   Significant outrage was expressed over NBC scheduling the event. It prevented Americans from viewing each nominee with a side-by-side comparison.   Social media soon blew up with calls to boycott NBC with hashtags like “#BoycottNBC” and “#BoycottMSNBC.” Former staffers and even current members of the news network expressed their disapproval.   Former NBC “Today Show” member Katie Couric  tweeted, ”Having dueling town halls is bad for democracy – voters should be able to watch both and I don’t think many will.”  Both town halls centered around COVID-19 and the general response made by the country.   Trump’s entire beginning of the event centered around a timeline...

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Esports renews win streak

Esports renews win streak

Posted by | Oct 19, 2020 | , |

Esports in March 2019. Photo by Waid Jones. Updated on 10/19/20 at 10:40 to fix slight grammatical errors and improve clarity.  Over the weekend, the University of Montevallo Overwatch team played Clayton State University on Friday, Oct. 17, and the University of North Georgia on Oct. 18. The results of the Friday game came out to be 2-0 Montevallo. On Sunday, North Georgia had to forfeit the game.  Each match was a best out of three series. The first team to win two games won the match.   Friday’s game came after the recent loss against Henderson State University.   Montevallo convincingly beat Clayton State...

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Candidates flop initial debate, Biden pulls ahead

Candidates flop initial debate, Biden pulls ahead

Posted by | Oct 18, 2020 | |

The first presidential debate took place Tuesday, Sept 29. Millions of voters were finally able to see Donald Trump in his first debate since taking office and compare the two nominees’ policies and personalities.   The debate was 90 minutes and allowed for 15-minute segments for each topic. Both nominees were allowed 2 minutes to respond to the initial question followed by open discussion.  Moderated by Chris Wallace, Fox News anchor, the debate focused on topics chosen by Wallace. Topics included Trump and Biden records, the Supreme Court, COVID-19, the economy race and violence in our cities and the integrity of...

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Freshman Spotlight: Drew Roberts

Freshman Spotlight: Drew Roberts

Posted by | Oct 18, 2020 | , , , |

Photo by Madelyn Alexander  Drew Roberts started running cross country and track when he was in fifth grade. His dad introduced him to running, and he hasn’t slowed down yet.    According to Roberts, cross country taught him how to maintain a life of self-discipline.   “When I’m lying comfortably in bed at 5:30 in the morning, there’s nothing I want to do less than go run for an hour, but I know it’s beneficial for me,” said Roberts.  In his “small battle every morning,” Roberts is prepared for his day. His philosophy of life is to get the most of...

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No one should be denied their right to vote

Posted by | Oct 10, 2020 | , |

In the ratification of the Constitution, the control of elections was left to the states to decide. It led to unfair voting practices across the country; states only allowed white men who owned property to vote. With the 15th and 19th Amendments, Black men and American women have the right to suffrage. The 24th amendment eliminated poll taxes, a form of voter suppression. And in 1971, the 26th amendment was passed, lowering the voting age of all elections to 18. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination in voting. Native Americans were granted full U.S. citizenship giving them the right to vote with the Snyder Act of 1924.  Our country has had a long history of voting amendments and acts to make this privilege more accessible to all. Yet, as a democratic nation, we continue to see voter suppression and a lack of access to voting in almost every community. According to the United States Elections Project, only 60% of the voter-eligible population, or VEP, voted in the 2016 election; out of the 232 million registered voters, 132 million voted.   These numbers sound impressive, but it’s only due to the increase in population in the United States. According to  Business Insider, voter turnout has stagnated in the last century. According to the  U.S. Census Bureau, midterm elections have seen even lower voter turnouts, with only 122 million people voting, only slightly above 50%...

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