Information Station: Volume 4
Read on for local, national, and international news
Local:
by Megan Silva
Applications open for City of Stockton Public Art Mural Program:
Stockton’s historic downtown is full of vibrant murals decorating the sides of buildings. There’s The Heart of the Valley, painted on the side of a building on California streets, that features jazz musicians and the historic Fox Theatre. Just down the street is a geometric, mesmerizing piece by the name of Power Through. Each of these murals celebrates Stockton’s resilience, diversity, and vibrancy. Now, the Stockton Arts Commission has opened up an application for artists to paint murals on city-owned property. Artists can apply to receive some of the $50,000 grant money that has been allotted for the public mural project.
According to the Public Art Mural Program Guidelines, artists must be current residents of California who have already successfully completed at least two permanent outdoor art installations, and preference will be given to those with a business license in Stockton.
Some of the notable “opportunity sites” for artists to paint on include the Bob Hope Theater, the Stockton Arena (now called Adventist Health Arena), and even several crosswalks.
According to the Public Art Mural Program Guidelines, one of the goals for the mural project is to “raise awareness of the City’s diverse environment and users while maintaining aesthetic quality.
If you want to go on a self-tour of already-completed murals in Stockton, save this brochure.
If you are interested in applying for this opportunity, download the Public Art Mural Program Guidelines and Application here.
National:
by Zak Baker
On Thursday, January 4th, 2024, the Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability released a bombshell report detailing the nearly $8 million dollars paid to former President Donald Trump by foreign governments during his time in office. In Article 1, Section 9, the Constitution states that:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
In plain English, an emolument is “payment for work in the form of money or something else of value.” (Cambridge Dictionary) Essentially, no one holding federal office is allowed to receive payment of any kind from any foreign government without the expressed consent of Congress. Former President Donald Trump never received any such consent.
According to the report, Trump and his businesses received direct payments from at least 20 different countries. China spent $5,572,548, Saudia Arabia spent $615,422, Qatar spent $465,744, and India spent $282,764. This list goes on.
Of particular interest to this author are the payments made to Trump’s businesses by Turkey and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (a state internationally recognized only by Turkey, otherwise considered by the international community to be part of the Republic of Cyprus, and which is essentially a puppet regime of Turkey). According to the report, Turkey paid a seemingly paltry sum of $1,894, while the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus paid $8,800.
Both payments were made to the Trump International Hotel in D.C. While the initial price tag seems small, these emoluments were in addition to the approximately $2.6 million Trump made from doing business in Turkey between 2015 and 2018. Trump himself admitted to having a conflict of interest with regard to Turkey in 2015, saying on Steve Bannon’s radio show: “I have a little conflict of interest because I have a major, major building in Istanbul. It’s called Trump Towers—two towers, instead of one.” Then Prime Minister and current President of Turkey Erdoğan cut the ribbons at the opening ceremony of these Towers in 2012, alongside Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
While the Oversight and Accountability Committee report details an account of alleged interference by Trump into a DOJ investigation into Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank, it fails to mention another potential conflict of interest, one with deadly consequences.
In October 2019, after a phone call with Erdoğan, then-President Trump ordered the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Northern Syria. Shortly thereafter, the Turkish armed forces launched an invasion of Kurdish-controlled Northern Syria. Trump abandoned the Kurds of Northern Syria; he allowed Turkey to wage war against our greatest ally in the fight against ISIS. 11,000 Syrian Kurds gave their life to defeat ISIS; they fought side by side with us, and America abandoned them at the command of a man with significant financial incentive to keep Erdoğan and his nation happy. Amnesty International condemned Turkish and Turkish-backed forces for committing “Serious violations and war crimes, including summary killings and unlawful attacks that have killed and injured civilians against the Kurdish people of Northern Syria.” 300,000 individuals (about half the population of Wyoming) were displaced. Many of them will never be able to return to their homes.
The Founding Fathers were not stupid. They knew that any government official, even the President, could be influenced by greed. They specifically included a clause within our constitution that was supposed to prevent such conflicts of interest. Yet former President Donald Trump was, for some reason, allowed to make executive decisions that directly led to the deaths and suffering of a long-oppressed people, all while receiving direct monetary compensation from the culprit nation.
International (SPACE EDITION!):
by Zak Baker
On January 19th, Japan became the fifth nation in history to land a spacecraft on the moon. Unfortunately, the mission was doomed to last only a few hours after landing due to issues with the probe's battery. Yet the primary objective of this moon mission has been accomplished. The probe was a technological demonstration of Japan’s commitment to space exploration. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency is actively coordinating with NASA’s Artemis program, with hopes of sending one of their own Astronauts to the moon onboard Orion and the Space Launch System sometime after 2025.
The Orion and the Space Launch System are in order, the spacecraft and launch vehicle are intended to take astronauts back to the moon for the first time since 1972. The first orbit of the moon was supposed to occur this year. Unfortunately, NASA has had to delay the launch until after 2025, and possibly into 2026. This delay is thanks to SpaceX's failure to meet deadlines in the development of the Starship, which is intended to transport astronauts from Orion to the Moon’s surface and back.
These delays came during the midst of Space Race 2.0. China, Japan, and India have all sent unmanned missions to the moon in recent years. 2024 has already seen an effort by a private U.S. corporation to join them, though it failed, and another is due later this year. While many at NASA consider landing on the moon itself essential, an important distinction has developed between the Chinese efforts and those of the United States. The U.S. does not stand alone in its effort; it is joined in its missions by the Japanese as well as Luxemburg, France, Germany, Austria, Australia, and Canada.
Meanwhile, China’s moon mission included only Russia. The U.S. additionally founded the Artemis Accords, a voluntary international agreement on the peaceful use of space. Notable signatories include BRICS nations such as Brazil, India, and the United Arab Emirates.
This race is not just physical. It is philosophical. While the race between the USSR and the USA was primarily about bragging rights and showing the superiority of an economic system, this new race between the USA and the PRC may decide the future of human endeavors into the final frontier. To the victor goes the spoils. Will space be ruled via an authoritarian system or a democratic one? It is not about planting a flag this time but about imprinting an ideology into the very fabric of space and time. The democratic, pluralistic, and liberal world must take space seriously so that when humanity first dips her foot into the vast, infinite ocean that is the universe, she puts her best foot forward.
Local Sources:
National Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-says-it-will-stand-aside-turkey-moves-syria-n1063106
International Sources:
https://apnews.com/article/japan-moon-landing-jaxa-probe-slim-845d4868636df5ced2e1818c588f29a4