Blog Post #2 - Supreme Court

Supreme Court Analysis

After reading the History Channel article overview of the United States Supreme Court, I discovered many new aspects of its origin and jurisdiction. For example, before reading this article, I was not aware that the Chief Justice of SCOTUS is required to sit on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institute. This was a bit of a surprise because I was under the impression that Surpreme Court Judges had a solitary duty in hearing major Supreme Court level cases.

Another surprising fact that I learned about SCOTUS involves the influence of the Chief Justice on court opinion. According to the History Channel article, when the chief justice is part of the majority opinion, they have the right to assign who will write to court's opinion. This was not something I have ever been taught in previous history or political science classes. 

My major takeaway from this research is that the Supreme Court holds a lot of power. The Supreme Court has the final say in major law changes and government decisions. In addition, it has the ability to check the actions of executive branch and legislative branch. I think that the three branch system is held in balance by the Supreme Court and their power to reject the other branches' actions if necessary.

Blog Post #1

My Top Five Sources of News and Information

My first source of news and information is Kare 11. Kare 11 is a local news station from my home state, Minnesota. It covers everything from the weather to local stories, to major events in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the U.S. I often watched Kare 11 in the evening as a child, so it is kind of a comfort channel for me. Knowing what is happening in my community and how that relates to the rest of the world is very important and informative. Even though watching a news program takes a longer time than reading a short article, I enjoy listening to news reporters from my area explain relevant events. 

TikTok is another place I get news and information. Oftentimes, I get pop culture news and random celebrity content, but I also get more important news from TikTok too. On occasion, I find out breaking news or global happenings from viral videos or news-focused content creators. I enjoy finding out information this way because it is often in a creative or entertaining format. However, the validity and reliability of TikTok as a news source are not exactly optimal.

Another social media outlet I use for news and information is Snapchat. Snapchat has "stories" on various channels that give me current and frequently updated information and global news. I can keep up with pop culture references, political scandals, and current events all within a matter of a few minutes each day. I also get information from posts by my friends and family on Snapchat, which keeps me up to date with their lives and how they perceive world events. 

The New York Times is another source of information and news that I rely on. I play the New York Times mini-game "Wordle" almost every single day. This leads me to look at their news articles, crossword puzzles, etc. I enjoy doing the crosswords because I typically learn something about history, pop culture, and current events through completing them. Then I'm prompted to do more research on those topics by reading the related news articles on their website. It makes research and new information more fun and intriguing to me. 

Friends and family are my last source of news and information. This is the source I rely most heavily on. When something of importance happens at HPU, our community, or the world, I typically find out about it from my friends or family first. While this may not seem like the best source of information, it often leads me to do more research on my own.