Why November 8th Will Go Down in History

By Kyle Boris

November 8th could go down as one of the most important dates in the history of the United States of America.

Take that statement for what it’s worth.

Yes, the main reason this day could be such an important date for our country is because we will be selecting our 45th President. It’s been well-documented that our country is split between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Both have been in the news and in the tabloids for the wrong reasons. Many have questioned, whether through a long Facebook status or a quick tidbit on Twitter or even a rant on Youtube, how these politicians could be the best our country could come up with. There are many people who are 100% for Trump. There are also many Americans who are fully behind Clinton. But, for many Americans, they fall somewhere in between.

No matter where we fall, however, the real reasoning behind November 8’s importance is not the outcome of the Presidential Election. Instead, I argue, that the reactions of the American voters, following the election, could make November 8th the most important date in the history of the United States of America.

What will we do? How will we react? Will we give up? Will we allow our beliefs, feelings and dreams to lay to the rest because the person we wanted was elected? Will we lose hope after the person we voted was defeated? The answers to those questions will speak loudest after November 8th.

Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will be the next president of this country. Barrack Obama will say his goodbyes and move on with his family as the White House opens its doors to either the Trumps or the Clintons. That might sound disgusting, unbelievable, and even flat-out insane to some of us, but that doesn’t mean we stop. That doesn’t mean we complain without action. Trump or Clinton’s name will be etched in the history books as the man or woman with the power. But, what they do with that power can only crack the surface of what the American people can do.

On November 9th, half of our country will wake up knowing that the person they voted for lost. It might make you want to scream hateful words on the internet. That might make you want to riot. It might make you threaten to leave the country. The great thing about this country is that you have the right to make any of those options a reality. You also have the right to attempt to make things better and make our country stronger.

I’ve stated that this day could be the biggest in our history. That could be good or bad. Positive or negative. When we look back it might carry importance because whomever we elected turned out to be the best thing for our country. We might also look back and realize it was our country’s biggest mistake.

But why should the voters only be looking back to think what could have been if so and so wasn’t president? What if we become the reason that when people look back they become aware that even though Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton became President, our nation came together. 2016-2020 wasn’t about who was the leader of the free world. That time period was about a country, that for so many months prior to the election was torn apart, that came together and built back up what was almost torn down.

Just because someone becomes president, that doesn’t mean we’re starting over or taking steps back. It doesn’t mean our entire country will be flipped upside down. I understand political policies come into play and decisions we don’t agree with might be made. But isn’t that always the case? We’ll never be happy with every decision that is made. That being said, we can be happy with the decisions we, the people, make. We can be happy about how we stepped up when a decision was made on November 8th.

Have you been fighting to put racism to an end? After November 8th, fight even harder. Do you believe rape culture is getting the attention and responses it needs? After November 8th, stand up even taller for change. Are you pushing for LGBT equality? After November 8th, push even harder. Scream for marijuana to be legal or illegal. Plead for stricter gun laws or scream against it. Plead for more awareness toward environmental issues, the bee population and animal cruelty. Plead for whatever it is you believe in.

Fight. Stand. Push. Scream. Plead.

Don’t stop. If you believe in something; if you believe in this country; if you believe in the American people than keep fighting. Don’t sit down. Push through and scream and plead until your voice is heard. Donald Trump is one man. Hillary Clinton is one woman. We are over 300 million strong. We are over 300 million voices. We are over 300 million different beliefs that make each and every one of us unique. As a whole, the over 300 million people of this country are stronger and have more power than two politicians fighting, degrading, and insulting each other to sit at a desk they may or may not deserve. We have more voices than the ones on the news telling us what we ‘should’ hear and know. We believe in things that none of them could ever imagine.

Every now and then, a day comes around that changes the course of history. It could be the start of a war or it could be the beginning of a revolution. The day could be one of tragedy or one of celebration. The day could even be one when the people of the United States of America started to fight, stand, push, scream and plead for their voices to be heard until the change they believed in was achieved.

Voting on November 8th will be the second most important thing you need to do that day. The most important will be to begin to decide how you want the day to be remembered.

Kyle Boris is the founder of YourSitch.com

Twitter: @KyleNoStyle

Kyle Questions September 2016

By Kyle Boris

September is upon us which means our favorite television shows are returning, new ones are premiering, baseball is coming to a close, football is starting up and of course the Emmy’s are knocking on the door. With all that in mind, take a look as I count down the 10 most pressing and entertaining issues that have me interested as I question September 2016.

10.) Will Ryan Lochte make it past the first round on Dancing with the Stars?

Oh, Ryan, where did we go wrong? Oh, yeah, it was when you lied about your drunken night. We’ve all been there. But, what better way to get rid of some bad publicity than to go on Dancing with the Stars? Lochte will be a contestant on Season 23?! of the popular dancing competition joining the likes of reality television all-star Vanilla Ice and fellow olympian, Laurie Hernandez. I have to assume Lochte isn’t going to be a fan favorite even if he dances well. Could he end up spending less time on the dance floor than he did in Rio?

Kyle’s Answer: Lochte will make it past the first round…but not much further.

9.) Will Donald Glover find success in Atlanta?

Creator, co-writer, producer, star. Donald Glover does it all on his new comedy series, Atlanta, set to premiere September 6th on FX. The man who goes by Childish Gambino in the rap scene and went by Troy on Community, Glover dwells into his own creation this time around as he plays Earn Marks, a man with no job in a big city with bigger dreams. Early reviews are positive and it seems as if Glover has struck gold again.

Kyle’s Answer: Glover shines in HOTLANTA

8.) Will Storks have the same success as The Lego Movie?

After an eleven year layoff, Warner Animation Group(formally Warner Bros. Feature Animation) hit it big with one of the biggest animated films of 2014 with The Lego Movie. The film sits at a whopping 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed over 469 million bucks. I feel sorry for the film that has to follow that up. That’s where Storks comes in; September 23 to be exact. This 3D animated film revolves around the idea that storks no longer deliver babies and instead deliver packages. All is well until Junior(Andy Samberg) gets into some hijinks and must deliver an actual baby. The idea is a fresh one and the trailers haven’t given much away, but we’ll have to see if Samberg can bring the same charm to Junior that Chris Pratt brought to Emmet in The Lego Movie.

Kyle’s Answer: Storks does well, but falls short in its opening weekend at the box office againts The Magnificent Seven(starring Chris Pratt).

7.) Will there be a tie for the second wild card spot heading into the final two days of the MLB regular season?

It’s only happened once since the new wild card rules were created in 2012, but this season has the chance to produce a 163rd game between two teams tied for the second wild card. Two teams are granted a wild card berth and play in one game to determine who moves on to the Division Round. But, with many teams fighting for positioning, there’s a chance a 163rd game might have to be played in case of a tie for the second wild card spot.

While the NL has a chance as the Mets, Pirates and Marlins are all within three games of the final wild card spot, the American League has a logjam of teams fighting for that final spot.

TEAM	W	L	PCT	WCGB
Red Sox	74	59	.556	+2.0
Orioles	72	61	.541	–
Tigers	72	61	.541	–
Astros	71	62	.534	1.0
Yankees	69	63	.523	2.5
Royals	69	64	.519	3.0
Mariners	68	65	.511	4.0

records via MLB.com

A whole bunch of scheduling conflicts could be in play if two or more teams finish with the same record. As of right now, the Orioles and Tigers would have to play a 163rd game to determine who gets the chance to play the Red Sox. However, the Astros, Yankees, Royals and even Mariners are within striking distance of making October very interesting.

Kyle’s Answer: The Red Sox and the Orioles hold off the competition heading into October

6.) Will Tim Tebow be signed to a Major League Baseball Contract?

Tebow 3:16. TebowMania. Tebow Time. It seems that the man can’t go a few months without his name being heard around the country. The former football star recently had a tryout in front of Major League Baseball scouts for over 25 teams. He showed off his speed for his size, a strong arm, and some decent power. But, what are the chances Tebow gets signed during the month of September? Tebow could do well in the minor leagues, perhaps, but I’m not so sure someone’s ready to give him the opportunity.

Kyle’s Answer: Tebow doesn’t get signed and is back as an analyst before month’s end.

5.) Will Marvel’s Luke Cage follow in the footsteps of Jessica Jones and Daredevil?

We’ll have to wait until the end of the month to know if Luke Cage will be a hit just like fellow superheroes Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Netflix hasn’t missed a beat recently with its comic book adaptations and there shouldn’t be any worry that this will change with Luke Cage. Cage was a towering force as Jones’s lover and partner on her Netflix series, so its exciting to see what he can do on his own.

Kyle’s Answer: I binge watch it in one night…and it delivers.

4.) Will South Park’s 20th season premiere crack two million viewers?

The boys of South Park have been crossing lines and dropping jaws for 19 strong seasons with number 20 on the way, September 14th. However, last season saw a drop in viewers as the premiere only brought in 1.76 million viewers. That was down from the 2.40 million for Season 18 and 2.89 for Season 17. Actually, the show didn’t crack 2 million U.S. viewers once in its 19th season. 20 seasons is a big deal and with plenty of Trump to go around, we can be sure the animated comedy has some material to work with.

Kyle’s Answer: South Park’s premiere does not mention Kyle’s mom, but reaches 2 million viewers.

3.) How will the Patriots do without Tom Brady?

If you weren’t aware. Tom Brady had some problems with his balls; more specifically the air quality in said balls. The man was on a mission to take down Roger Goodell and get his four-game suspension revoked for Deflate Gate, but ultimately Goodell won the battle and Brady will be forced to sit out his team’s first four games against the Dolphins and Texans at home and on the road against the Cardinals and Bills. Jimmy Garoppolo has zero career starts in the NFL and will be tasked with facing some tough defenses to open the season.

Kyle’s Answer: Patriots lose both road games and one at home to the Texans to fall to 1-3 before Brady comes back to save them and carry the team to the playoffs.

2.) Who says the most offensive joke at the Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe?

Every year Comedy Central hosts a roast where a bunch of comedians and celebrities get to tear each and pretty much anyone and anything going on in the world apart. Justin Bieber and James Franco have been previous roastees, but this year’s honor goes to Rob Lowe. Will Rob make the most offensive joke of the night? Probably not. That honor will have to come from one of his fellow roasters: Jimmy Carr, Ann Coulter, David Spade, Pete Davidson, Nikki Glaser, Jewel, Ralph Macchio, Peyton Manning, Rob Riggle and Jeff Ross.

Kyle’s Answer: The safe bet is to go with Jeff Ross who is never afraid to address touchy topics. However, I’m gonna go with Pete Davidson who will try to follow up some of his 9/11 references from last year.

1.) Will Game of Thrones sweep the Supporting Actor/Actress categories at the Emmy’s?

Game of Thrones had a huge sixth season. Deaths: CHECK. Battles: CHECK. More Deaths: CHECK. With all those deaths and battles came some great performances from the regular actors and actresses on the show. This was made clear when the Emmy nominees were announced and five GoT actors & actresses were nominated.

In the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category, Peter Dinklage(Tyrion) and Kit Harington(Jon Snow) will try to fend off Jonathan Banks(Better Caul Saul), Michael Kelly(House of Cards), Ben Mendelsohn(Bloodline) and Jon Voight(Ray Donovan). Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series finds three ladies of Game of Thrones as nominees. Emilia Clarke(Daenerys), Lena Headey(Cersei) and Maisie Williams(Arya) all will be vying for their first Emmy awards against Maggie Smith(Downton Abbey), Maura Tierney(The Affair) and Constance Zimmer(UnREAL).

Kyle’s Answer: The women have a better shot to come away with a victory and I believe Lena Headey powers through and notches the Emmy win for her role as Cersei. On the men’s side, Kit and Peter will have some competition particularly in the form of the great Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut on Better Call Saul, but I think Kit Harrington as Jon Snow pulls out the victory for the Starks!

Kyle Boris is a contributing editor for YourSitch.com

Twitter: @KyleNoStyle

The Rio We Don’t See

A brief look into the life in Rio de Janeiro and it’s relation to the 2016 Olympics.

By Daisy Rivadeneira

90141061_welcometohell — Sight of Brazil tourist when landing in Rio (BBC)

‘Welcome to Hell’ is how many were greeted when landing in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics earlier this month. Now, if that’s not terrifying, I don’t know what is. Months leading into the world-wide competition hinted that Rio was going through an economic crisis. The cost of last year’s World Cup, in addition to the construction of more stadiums for the Olympics, has put a strain on its community.

Here’s what we see versus what is actually going on just outside of the stadiums:

Opening Ceremony Moments Olympics — 2016 Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony (NBC)

rio-olympics-police_e7658521565d43328dbc78f514d667fc — Olympic Park- Rio de Janeiro (Rappler)

It’s not like people are walking in blind into Rio. It was publicly known that natives in Rio de Janeiro were protesting the Olympics, leading to the boycott of many police officers before the event. Yes, Brazil has brought in officers to keep the athletes and tourists safe as a temporary solution- but how has that held up?

Quick background, as soon as it was announced that Rio would host the World Cup and the Olympics, the government quickly acted on pushing the poor into favelas; urban ghettos, where there is little to no police supervision. These favelas are far enough from where gold medals are being distributed, but still just a few kilometers away from the glamour.

Currently, many cities in Brazil are going through the same severe poverty Rio is going through. The only difference here is that most of the world has their eyes set on the Olympics, forcing the city into a negative spotlight. Unfortunately this isn’t something that has come about in the recent months, but something that has been going on for years. Yet, not much has been done by the government to change or resolve the problem. It seems almost as if the government has accepted the issue and is just settling.

Due to the severe poverty in Rio, there are women selling their bodies and kids pickpocketing tourists just footsteps away from Maracana Stadium. People are doing this because there aren’t jobs that will pay them, coercing them to do what it takes to survive. Not sure if I missed that in the news, but all I have been hearing is how the city is beautiful, safe, and fun. Honestly this doesn’t come to my surprise, but it’s not what has really shocked me so far. What really has shocked me is how the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the people who chose Rio as the host city, are coming off. They appear to be more worried about looking foolish in the decision they’ve made in choosing Rio de Janeiro.

Throughout the Olympic games the IOC has overlooked and ignored many incidents in where people have been mugged, robbed, or just merely had their life threatened. However, it got to the point in where they could no longer ignore the real-life crime happening right in front of their faces. Now obviously there have been many crime related instances throughout the games, but what has been making headlines as of late is Ryan Lochte’s incident on Sunday.

In case you missed it,12-time Olympic Gold medalist Ryan Lochte reported that he had allegedly been robbed at gunpoint with three other US swimmers. Lochte goes on social media to break the news and instantly the news goes viral. Now here is my issue. Any organization would have an initial reaction of trying to get ahold of the situation and get to the bottom of it. However, the IOC’s reaction was to shut down the claim and deny it happened immediately. Now it appeared as if they were trying to hide and bury the news as if nothing had happened, but since Lochte is a world-wide name it was hard to have the news disappear. Who knows what the truth in this story is, but Brazilian officials are determined to find out the truth. This case is currently under investigation and on Wednesday the Brazilian court ordered to seize Lochte’s passport along with the three other athletes he was with that night (USA Today). Now if the Brazilian officials actually did this in-depth investigation for other crimes, things might not be so bad in Brazil.

This is just a very tiny glimpse and a quick overview of what is going on down in Brazil. So what happens after the games are over and done with? The only places with protection seem to be around the events. Currently every event is being heavily guarded, and even locals have reported that this is the safest Rio has been… at least around Olympic Park (NY Times). Like I said this is just the tip of the iceberg and you can read about Rio’s crime problem for hours and even read into the corruption in IOC’s decision. But that’s another article for another time.

Let me know your thoughts as this discussion isn’t close to being done.

Daisy Rivadeneira is a contributing editor for YourSitch.com

Twitter: @day_zeeee

The Natural Opinion: Kevin Durant

Is Kevin Durant Just Following The Lebron James Model?

I certainly think so.

Picture this. As a young kid growing up in Brooklyn, New York, my friends and I are choosing teams. Myself, along with my little brother, are by far the best players of the bunch. Automatically, I along with my brother are nominated team captains. Notice the word, “automatically”. Why is it automatic that the two best players play on opposite sides? Competitive balance. The two best players on the same team is called a “slaughter”. No one wants to see that, no one wants to be a part of that, including two young boys just playing on the courts of Brooklyn.

The only true way to ultimately decide who truly is the better player is for us to compete against each other. Being on the same team doesn’t accomplish anything. As competitors, no matter the age of the athlete, we feel a sense of accomplishment when we challenge ourselves that way.

I say all this to illuminate the fact that the day Lebron James decided to join Dwyane Wade in Miami in the summer of 2010, the NBA as we knew it would never be the same. I’m an NBA fan through and through. I still love the NBA now, just as much as I did back in the day. But I’ve gotta say, I feel like I’m in the twilight zone these days. NBA Superstars who are considered in the top two or three players in the league consciously teaming up to “slaughter” the rest of the league are being celebrated like those NBA legends of old who accomplished even more without resorting to these “punk-like” tactics? In Brooklyn that’s called “sucka shit”.

Whenever I bring things like this up, I’m deemed a “hater”. But the reality is, I want others to truly appreciate how difficult it is to win an NBA championship. Not only that, how difficult it is to win many times over. Common sense would say, when two of the top three players in the league team up it means they’re taking a much easier road to the ultimate goal. But someway, somehow, Lebron James is now being celebrated like he is on the same level, or according to some, even better than the GOAT Michael Jordan. Remember what I said, “twilight zone”. With that, with only three rings to his name, he’s now bypassed legends like Magic Johnson(5 rings), Kareem Abdul Jabbar(6 rings), Kobe Bryant(5 rings), Shaquille O’Neal(4 rings) Tim Duncan(5 rings). Really?

In 2010, Kevin Durant condemned the forming of super teams in his now infamous tweet. But a funny thing has happened since; Lebron James is being celebrated because he finally started winning championships by doing “sucka shit”. So apparently, Kevin Durant has had a change of heart. He’s now joined the Golden State Warriors to team up with another, arguably, top three player in Steph Curry. My assertion is that the Golden State Warriors have the potential to be the greatest team of all time and once Durant starts winning championships, he too will celebrated as if he’s greater than Michael Jordan. Twilight Zone.

Adriel “The Natural” is a contributing writer for YourSitch.com