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The Parrot
December 2016

Since 1927

Audubon Jr.-Sr. High School

Trump Wins in Surprising Victory

By Quinn Tomaselli
Parrot Staff Writer

On November 8th, America was once

again transformed by the election of a new
president and a new party. Donald Trump was
elected to be the 45th President of the United
States, defeating Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College vote by
a margin of 58 votes.
This victory,
however, was not
easily given to
Trump. Clinton, despite trailing Trump
for the most part of
the Election Night
coverage, still won
the majority of the
popular vote in
America at the close
of the final polls.
Clinton defeated
Trump in the popular
vote by almost one Photo: AP
million votes, being
chosen for president an astounding 61,035,460
times by Americans.
Clintons stunning loss was highlighted by interesting battles in key states
across the country. In most of these states,
Trump only lead his opponent by a slim margin, truly not running away with the votes. In
Pennsylvania, Trump defeated Clinton by a
margin of 1.4% of the votes, while in Michigan, his victory came only by a margin of
0.3%. In addition, key battleground states of
Florida and Ohio, who voted for Democratic
Presidential candidate and later President
Barack Obama, both voted for Donald Trump,
breaking the blue mold that held the state together for the past 8 years.

By Andrea Rojas

Beyond the presidential election, a

wide variety of congressional elections were
held across the nation. It marked an important
night for members of Congress as it was the
Democrats latest attempt to try and reclaim
Congress since 2010 when the Republican
party won control of the House of Representat i v e s .
The Republicans have controlled the House
ever since, and as of
November 8, now
control Congress for
at least the next two
years. This marks
the first time that the
Republicans have
been able to control
the House and the
Senate since the
109th Congress held
between 2005 and
2006, as well as the
first time since that
time that they have also controlled both Congress and the Presidency.
The elections did not come without
controversy, though. A widespread movement
began with the chanting of the phrase, Not
my President, in reference to the fact that
Donald Trump had loss the popular vote, yet
still won the presidency. Protests broke out
across America in major cities like Los Angeles, Oakland and New York, right outside of
Trump Tower, quickly turning to riots.
Despite the controversy and the election of Donald Trump, America should have
one key goal for the next four years: unite as
one country and believe in the democratic
process.

China Combats Cyber Threats

By Alexa Westenberger
Parrot Staff Writer

On Monday, November 7, 2016, China imposed new

cyber security rules which granted Chinese central authorities
more dominance over the countrys data and hardware.
These new policies, which were approved by The
Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress, are
expected to be in action by June 2017. These newest securities
are in response of threats from foreign nations as they
strengthen local networks against malicious hackers.
Critics overseas instead see it as threat to foreign business and technology companies, which are a major part of the
Chinese economy. Under Chinas new cyber security laws,
foreign technology companies operating in China are required
to store their data on Chinas internet servers; essentially a
Google Drive, ran and monitored by the Chinese government. The newly imposed sanctions have raised concern within
foreign companies that fear government officials would have to
hand over intellectual property.
Furthermore, companies fear that Chinese officials
could open back doors into said intellectual property, and new
goods and services. In doing so, the government would have
the ability to replicate goods at a lower rate due to the lack of a
companys brand. A high level of risk of something like this
occurring exists because any unauthorized material from foreign companies that circulate on Chinas server are subject to
strict punishments.
As part of the new rules, China is training new experts
to investigate cyber security threats and hacks. These experts
will also restrict the already limited use of personal internet
usage. If caught hiding information by one of Chinas experts,
the government could freeze any assets of those operating in
their country.
China is already subjected to some of the toughest
internet restrictions, limiting their freedom internet access. Due
to the new regulations Chinese citizens cannot access websites
such as Facebook, Google and YouTube, which already had
sanctions imposed on their usage.
Overall, the Chinese government is looking to further
control over everything on its soil, including the ideas of others.

Musks Mission to Mars By 2025

Parrot Staff Writer

Founder of Tesla Motors, Paypal and SolarCity, Elon Musk has

started a new venture: colonizing Mars. With this new company, SpaceX,
Musk is planning to send people to
the red planet by the year 2025.
Musk plans to send an unmanned Dragon capsule to the planet
by 2018 followed by humans in
2025. SpaceX has already built and
tested the Raptor rocket engine, a
methane fuel-powered machine more
powerful than any other rocket.
These raptor engines will propel the
Interplanetary Transport System, or
ITS, which is capable of transporting
100 tons of cargo. Trips would take
place every twenty-six months, with Founder of Tesla Motors Elon Musk
tickets prices ranging from $100,000 Photo: AP
to $200,000 a person.
Of course the prices will eventually be lowered by creating spaceships
with reusable parts, such as the ITSs refueling while in orbit, which will prevent wasting fuel at liftoff. Plans also have reusable boosters, tankers, and

Volume 90 Issue II

ships. Each booster can be reused 1,00 times; the tankers 100 times, and the
ships 12 times.
Musk also expects that even the size of the ships will increase, leading
to more people being able to travel to Mars. He stated that the ITS will
be a welcoming, fun place with zero-gravity rooms, a movie area, a
cafeteria, plus additional options.
It would take anywhere from 40 years to a century for the city on
Mars to become a fully self sufficient society and over 10,000 flights of
people and supplies to build everything as well.
Once on Mars, humans will produce the reusable methane for
the ITS, which will not only lower the cost of the trips further but will
also prevent a graveyard of ships on Mars.
Musk did not completely explain how SpaceX plans to pay for
the Mars missions, but he stated that it will be a huge public-private
partnership, meaning there are multiple public and private organizations interested in funding the program. He also mentioned sending
NASA cargo and astronauts to the space station as well as starting a
Kickstarter.
Unfortunately for Musk, there are other billionaires that dream of
shooting for the stars. Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has his own
rocket company, Blue Origin. He announced a new rocket, New Glenn,
whose aim is to take people into space as well as launch satellites.
People will just have to wait until 2025 to see what happens.