The Advocate - Issue 6 - October 25, 2019 by The Advocate

Volume 54, Issue 6 October 25, 2019 advocate-online.net

FOR THE STUDENTS BY THE STUDENTS

Rho Theta: Ready for the year? PAGE 3

'Zombieland' comes back to life in sequel PAGE 5

Are your passwords safe? Probably not. PAGE 6

PLETHORA OF PUMPKINS THIS HALLOWEEN PAGE 4

China and America spook each other PAGE 2

2019 FIRST PLACE

General Excellence

Pacific Northwest Assoc. of Journalism Educators

OPINION

A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T

BIG TROUBLE IN ‘LITTLE CHINA’

you’ve been keeping up with current events over the past few weeks, you’ll no doubt have heard of the continuing Hong Kong protests and the fight its residents are having with authorities. In short, Hong Kong has been apart of China but has its own democracy outside of the communist system of China. That system is slowly changing, to China having full control of Hong Kong. All NBA games have been banned from networks in China, after Daryl Morey, general manager for the Houston Rockets team, voiced support for the prodemocracy protests on Twitter. Following this retaliation from China, NBA officials were quick to backpedal as far as they could, even coercing members of the Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers megastar LeBron James to speak in glowing terms about China. LeBron, in particular, has been criticized for his heavy involvement in other social justice issues while taking a don’t-talk-about-it stance on Hong Kong But basketball wasn’t the only sport to be targeted by China’s

suppression of free speech over these past few weeks. Shortly after, angry mobs of gamers took to the internet to voice their displeasure to Blizzard Entertainment after it banned competitive “Hearthstone” game player, Blitzchung (Wai Chung Ng), for stating his solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters during an official postgame live stream. As news of this spread, resentment quickly flared up in both the Blizzard fan base and the gaming community as a whole, and only a few days later, a group of Hearthstone competitors at American University, in Washington, D.C., held up a sign reading “Free Hong Kong” during an official livestream. But this kind of corporate greed comes at an insidious cost to freedom for all people. As long as American corporations remain

so heavily invested in China, their global reach will extend far beyond their borders and will help suppress freedom of expression. Speaking of freedom of expression, other famous names in support for Hong Kong now include Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of “South Park.” Aside from the pair’s own public statement on the NBA controversy, their show has now been

the Chinese internet is Pewdiepie. In a recent episode of his “Meme Review” series, the YouTuber compared president Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh, a character stricken from Chinese media for a number of years now. Thankfully not everyone is happy to sit idle while corporate greed runs unchecked. In the NBA season opener televised on Tuesday, Shaquille O’Neal backed the Rocket GM’s tweet, saying that it’s our value as Americans to have free speech. Meanwhile, Charles Barkley pointed out that Chinese basketball star Yao Ming became the Hall of Famer he is with the Rockets team, and therefore it wasn’t right for Morey to tweet his support for Hong Kong. But the issue reaches farther than just LeBron putting out a half-assed statement in regards to a

“CHINA CAN’T TELL US WHAT TO DO AND WE CAN’T TELL THEM WHAT TO DO; THAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE.” -SHAQUILLE O’NEAL officially banned from China over its recent episode criticizing the NBA and the Chinese government. Another prominent name to be banned from

situation he isn’t directly a part of. It’s more about, to what extent does a foreign power like China involve itself in the media we consume? The examples shown above are clear moments of this question coming to life. As Shaq bluntly put it on TNT, “China can’t tell us what to do and we can’t tell them what to do; that’s the bottom line.” It’s an issue when celebrities who consider themselves advocates of social justice pick and choose what to ignore, but it’s an even bigger issue for situations like Hong Kong to be censored simply because the higher-ups have some sort of investment in the huge Chinese market. As the Hong Kong conflict continues to develop, there’s no telling what to expect next. There likely will be no resolution for a long time to come. For the moment, as political figures and average citizens alike come together to voice displeasure with corporations who cater to the suppression of free speech, the fight to preserve the inalienable right to freedom of thought and expression will carry on.

SUPPORT FOR THE HOMELESS IS SADLY FLAWED

Ash Espinoza The Advocate

It’s sad to say, but homelessness is very common in America, certainly around Portland and Gresham. According to Homelessworldcup. org, homelessness among vulnerable groups has increased by 75% since 2010. On any given night, there are 4,000 people sleeping rough in greater Portland, while households “in temporary accommodation has risen from 48,330 in 2011 to 78,170 in 2017” here. As someone who was homeless for almost a year, I can say it’s not as easy as most would think. Most,

if not all, homeless shelters are either too full to take in more families and have a waiting list, or are currently unsafe for women and children. There are resources available, such as TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) support offered by states through federal government grants and food stamps. But, under federal and state law, most heads of households can receive TANF cash assistance for a maximum total of 60 months (five years) if you don’t have a job and have children.

for the students by the students Editor-in-Chief Chloe Collins

Sports Editor Julia Empleo

Associate Editor Omar Saradi

Opinion Editors Sadie Klein Omar Saradi

News Editor Chris Barney Arts & Entertainment Editors Kurt Larson Eli Rankin

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Graphic Design Editor Eli Rankin Broadcast Editor Naethaniel Lile

Broadcast team Gage Linhares Kel Buell Graphic Design Team Leydi Perez Carrasco Photo Editor Maysee Thao Photo Team Bethy Fallgren Landon Spady

TANF cash assistance is intended to be a temporary means of support while families work towards selfsufficiency. Now, most people would see that you get it for five years and might think, “That’s amazing – why are you still homeless?” Answer: You only get a certain amount per month and most times that can barely cover a single bill, much less utilities, rent, and basic daily necessities such as food, hygiene and clothes. To even qualify for TANF, families must have very few assets, and little or no income.

@mhccadvocate

Ad Manager Parrish Chang

Outreach Manager Melanie Roberts

Staff Writers Brad Le Daniella Young Kel Buell Ash Espinoza Omar Carrillo Carson Koch

Social Media Manager [Position Open]

Copy Editor Corwin Benedict

Distribution Specialist Julia MacDonald Advisers Dan Ernst Howard Buck

The current maximum monthly benefit for a family of three is $506. If you are a single parent, it may be even harder to make ends meet. I feel the reason homelessness is such a strong issue is because most people can’t afford housing, due mostly to sky rocketing costs. I know it won’t happen right away, but I hope for a future when having something as simple as a place to sleep is the least of our problems.

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@mhccadvocate

NEWS

OCTOBER 25, 2019

STUDENT LIFE ADVISER READY TO MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT Daniella Young The Advocate

Settling in to Mt. Hood’s Student Life and Civic Engagement department this Autumn is Rozina Lethe, who took over its coordinator position in June. That means she advises the Associated Student Government (ASG) and oversees the college’s student clubs/organizations, as well as Barney’s Pantry in the Student Union. Lethe was born in Krasnodar, Russia, but was raised in Portland, graduating from Central Catholic High School. She has been working

professionally in the higher education field for about four years. Prior to coming to MHCC, she worked at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, and then Western Oregon University in Monmouth as a resident director, where she was in charge of the dorm buildings there. One of Lethe’s favorite memories at Western Oregon was serving as resident assistant and making dreamcatcher circles for a special program one year. This was special for her, as it involved native cultures and cultural history. It turned out to be a popular project. “There were about 65-70

Rozina Lethe is happy to guide student leaders at MHCC

Photo contributed by Rozina Lethe

people who came to the program and I ran out of supplies,” she said. Lethe majored in applied mathematics at Western Oregon, but now sees working with college students as her future. “I’ve always been interested in working with students in student government and focusing on the students,” she said. “I’ve got a great appreciation for community colleges in general. This position is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. It seemed like a perfect fit” at Mt. Hood, she said. So far, Lethe is really enjoying her time at MHCC. “I really like being able to work with the student leaders. It’s been really fun to see them grow in the past two months,” she said. “I want to continue to get to know the students and the college. I want to make sure I can have a positive impact on their experience here.” Looking ahead, Lethe hopes someday to get her master’s degree and possibly become a director for a Student Life department such as Mt. Hood’s, as well as run a student center similar to the Student Union, still working closely with students and staff members. Away from work, she currently lives with her partner and their puppy, named Penelope Jane. She also enjoys alternative music, as well as the band “Matt and Kim.” But she is excited to come to the Gresham campus each day. “I like it. I really like being in the Student Life department,” she said.

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR THE HONOR SOCIETY Chris Barney The Advocate

Fall Term began with MHCC students having to relearn the locations of many offices due to the launch of the student Hub, but that’s only one of the major changes this fall for Rho Theta, Mt. Hood’s honor student association. Longtime adviser Beth Sammons decided to give up her post, due to other duties and interests and a desire to let other staff or faculty members have the opportunity to impact students. Student Life leaders Doctor Abio Ayeliya and Rozina Lethe are filling in as interim advisers while a search for a full-time replacement goes on. Another area in which Rho Theta has a need is in student officers. Currently the group has but one officer, Danielle Whitlock, who serves as president. In light of this, the group has determined to use this term to rebuild and complete the projects which are already in progress. One of those projects, the Potty Project – turning the women’s bathroom behind the cosmetology department into an all-user bathroom - is set to be completed prior to December. At its core, Rho Theta is an honors program that celebrates student’s academic achievements. While there is no time commitment involved in being a member, there is certainly plenty to do. Rho Theta does various projects over time. One of the most recent being an Honors in Action project,

On the cover: Sights from Liepold Farms in Boring, Oregon.

E-mail: advocatt@mhcc.edu Phone: 503-491-7250 Website: advocate-online.net Mt. Hood Community College Room 1369 26000 SE Stark Street Gresham OR 97030

the focus of which is how social media affects people’s ability to make and cultivate relationships. What are the perks of Rho Theta? Members receive recognition at commencement, have the opportunity to develop leadership skills, the opportunity to give back to the community, and the ability to make a difference in the world. In addition, there is the opportunity to become an officer. The basic duties of an officer entail two to three office hours a week, involvement in chapter activities, and participating in other chapter functions. Beyond this are some position-specific duties. Officers are compensated with tuition waivers. Students interested in joining the honors society can find Rho Theta on the college website: From the home page, hover over Student Life, then click on Rho Theta. If you wish to visit the Rho Theta office, simply go to the Student Union and ask for Abio Ayeliya or email him at Doctor.AbioAyeliya@ mhcc.edu.

GET TO KNOW THE ADVOCATE

Cover by: Bethany Fallgren

Graphic contributed by MHCC’s Rho Theta Chapter

The Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission. Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board. The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length. Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print. Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

Parrish Chang Staff Writer Parrish Chang is excited for the chance to write for the Advocate and be an advertising manager. He is a freshman student involved in different arts such as drawing, singing, dancing and theatre, and is looking into behind-the-scene work for theatre productions or television studios. While he has a hard time approaching people himself, don’t be afraid to walk up to him and start a conversation!

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T

BEWARE THE CANDYMAN AND HIS “TREATS” Omar Carrillo The Advocate

A hook for a hand, on top of a bleeding, mutilated arm is certainly frightening. Bees pouring from human orifices, merciless murder: These unspeakable things are absolutely horrifying. But the true horror of “Candyman” really shines from the background, from the modern world in which it takes shape. Social-commentary horror is by no means a new sub-genre, and was not necessarily new even in 1992, when Candyman saw its release. Yet, this Bernard Rose-directed classic found an interesting angle that still manages to stay relevant all these years – an angle whose continued existence spells a terror that has affected so many people, so many lives, that this adaption just can’t compare, no matter how eerie its execution. The film centers around sociology graduate student Helen Lyle, a bright and highly skeptical

researcher, who decides to compose her thesis around the infamous “Candyman”: an age-old local urban legend featuring a young black man, son of a slave, who was brutally attacked by a white lynch mob after falling in love and fathering a child with a white woman.

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Helen’s investigation takes her to the massive Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago (where she is based), a now-defunct

housing project in the Near North Side, populated practically entirely by poverty-stricken AfricanAmericans, where Candyman was murdered more than a century ago, as the legend goes. What Helen sees and encounters in this neglected, tragedy-torn area is the basis of this movie’s central theme: how the suffering of so many generations of so many people manifests itself. In this film, that suffering manifests in the form of a corporeal, vengeful spirit; an embodiment of the seemingly immortal violence and heartbreak that has been crashing like waves against poor people of color for hundreds of years in the United States. Candyman embodies a form created by those who believe in him, as Helen hypothesizes, though her interpretation is in a more metaphorical sense. But analyzing just what it means for one to “believe” what Candyman represents is a key part of understanding this movie’s work: Candyman personifies the

socio-economic injustices of his time and ours, yes, but the residents of Cabrini-Green fear him more than anyone else. They know what his existence, fictional or otherwise, means for them. The ultimate nightmare, that what they are going through and have been going through as long as they or their ancestors can remember, is immortal. Unending. It is this that turns the imagery in Candyman from frightening to haunting, from unnerving to unbearable. True, Cabrini-Green as it was no longer exists. The city project was essentially torn down with its iconic main high-rise in March 2011, almost 20 years after Candyman’s depiction. However, its former existence and continued legacy is mirrored in thousands of places all across the country. A legacy of forced housing segregation, institutional denial of basic public assistance in favor of simply ignoring the problem, deliberate and unyielding push-back against any kind of financial growth,

individually and otherwise. It is only one small example of the failure of our system to care for those in need, for those who may not even know anything but need. Like the emotions of that kind of living, Candyman is eternal. He forever torments, as long as his terrible story breathes along with him. He is, as he says himself, “the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom…” He is what each and every soul living in CabriniGreen and far beyond feel in their hearts as they look upon a future that never seems to get any kinder toward them. He is the sinking angst that can be felt between each word of an aching victim’s testimony. Candyman bears no concerning disfigurement on his face. He looks as though he could be anyone. Because he is anyone. At all times. Functioning in an environment that formed and still forms our entirety. “Our names will be written on a thousand walls… 4 out of 5 stars

THE PATCHES ARE FILLED WITH AUTUMN FUN Bethany Fallgren The Advocate

Got any plans during this spooktacular Halloween Season? It’s that time of year again, when the weather is starting to get colder and sunny days are few and far between. Thankfully, in our metro area there are several autumn activities to keep anyone, at any age, amused. Whether it’s Oktoberfest, a haunted house, dressing up in your favorite costume, or just enjoying

the changing colors of the great landscape Oregon has to offer, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Pumpkin Patches and corn mazes are also a great pastime for friends and family to enjoy. There are several places listed online and you can often spot a sign for the local pumpkin patch among many back roads in rural areas. As an example, Liepold Farms in Boring, Fazio Farms in northeast Portland, and the well-known Original Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie

Bethy Fallgren | The Advocate

Hay rides give families a quick and fun way to tour the pumpkin patch. PA G E 4

Island, northwest of Portland, all have pumpkin patches, as well as corn mazes and local produce to offer the general public. Other places, including Dollan Creek Farms in Boring and Mr. Tree’s Pumpkin Patch in Gresham, do not have a corn maze but do have hay rides, pumpkins and entertainment that many visitors can appreciate. Of course we can’t forget Bella Organic Farm, which is also on Sauvie Island. They offer an “Equality: The Time is Now”themed corn maze, a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo and several other activities. While visiting a local farm like Bella Organic or the Original Pumpkin patch, do be aware that they often charge an entrance or parking fee, and also have certain prices to enter the corn mazes, hayrides, games etc. Don’t forget to prepare yourself and check the company websites where you would like to visit. The rain here lately has also made things pretty soggy and boots are recommended at most places, along with wearing clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. Sauvie

Liepold Farms is sporting high corn stalks this autumn.

Island’s Original Pumpkin Patch even closed on a recent Wednesday due to the bad conditions, so keep in mind and double-check if places are open before visiting. Each location has its own personal history. Many have been family owned for decades and one can sense a connection to the local community. When you visit a local pumpkin patch, you are supporting a local business and the local employees that are hired. Be sure to visit these locations soon so you don’t miss out. Most

Bethy Fallgren | The Advocate

festivities are only open until Halloween, or through the following weekend, and that’s less than a week away. Check out your local patch with a good pair of rain boots, have fun tramping through the mud of a corn maze, and pick a farm-grown pumpkin. Maybe you can find yourself lucky enough to indulge in a delicious hot cup of apple cider, or conversing during a hayride with loved ones. Whatever you fancy, you are sure to find what you are looking for in Portland or its surrounding area.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

OCTOBER 25, 2019

DOUBLE TAPPING ZOMBIES ‘MY WAY’ BACK TO A 2011 SLEEPER AFTER TEN YEARS Kel Buell

The Advocate Well folks, 10 years after the first “Zombieland” came out, “Zombieland: Double Tap” is now in theaters, and is an excellent example of how some things really do improve over time. The original cast is back in action and it’s almost like they never left. The movie starts out with Tallahassee, Columbus, (played by Woody Harrelson, and Jessie Eisenberg, respectively), Wichita, and Little Rock (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) living it up in the White House. The audience is reminded almost instantly of all the reasons they loved the first movie as we see the characters sitting down to have Christmas in the middle of August, made all the better by witnessing Tallahassee dressed in a home-made Santa costume. Unfortunately, the pleasantry was not meant to last, and Little Rock ends up on the road to Memphis, the hometown of Elvis, with a boy from California named “Berkeley” (played by Avan Jogia). What ensues is a comedic adventure easily on par with the original, filled with guns, laughter, “zombie-kills-of-the-week”, and a killer impersonation of “The King” himself – that would be Elvis – by Tallahassee. In essence, it’s worth every penny. It takes a fair amount of skill to turn a zombie movie from a horror film to a comedy, but the makers of the “Zombieland” movies have managed it not just once, but twice.

The latest film takes a situation which would ordinarily be dark, horrifying, and anxiety-inducing, and turns it into a movie that keeps the audience laughing from start to finish, while also managing to have it on the edge of its seats the entire time. If you have some time to spare, or even if you don’t, give Double Tap

a watch. It’ll keep you entertained even after you’ve left the theater. If you will pardon the pun, this movie has really killed it.

4.5 out of 5 stars

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COMMUNITY POLL RESULTS

DOES A CANDIDATE’S VIEW ON CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECT THE WAY YOU VOTE?

33% 67% YES 68 VOTES

NO 34 VOTES

Brad Le The Advocate When it comes to World War II, the Asian perspective outside of Japan is a point of view rarely explored in films or in entertainment. One of the most interesting moments that surfaced during the conflict was the story of Yang Kyoungjong, who allegedly fought in many sides of the war. As the story goes, Kyoungjong was a Korean soldier who was conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army, the Soviet Red Army, and, finally, the German Wehrmacht. After the initial D-Day landings in 1944, Kyoungjong was captured by American paratroopers, but was later released in 1947. After the war, he moved to the U.S., obtained American citizenship and retired in Illinois until he died in 1992. While his story is not confirmed to actually be authentic, the story made such a strong impression that it inspired a Korean film released in 2011, called “My Way.” Although the film does take liberties with the historical story, overall, it remains one of cinema’s more underrated films. It features two protagonists. Kim Jun-Shik, played by the Korean actor Jang Dong-Gun, is the film’s equivalent to Kyoungjong. Jun-Shik is a poor Korean marathoner who lives in Japanese-occupied Korea. Accused of cheating in a marathon, he is forcibly conscripted into the Japanese Imperial army. The second protagonist, Tatsuo Hasegawa, played by the Japanese actor Joe Odagiri, is a fierce athlete and rival of Jun-Shik. Contrary to Jun-Shik, Tatsuo is from a wealthy and influential family and voluntarily joins the Japanese army as a Japanese nationalist. Over the course of the film, the two protagonists get captured and conscripted into the Russian Red Army, as well as the German Wehrmacht, until both are finally captured and released by U.S. soldiers. The film was released with a budget of $24 million, but sadly came in at a deficit, making back only $16.5 million dollars at the box office. Despite this, I found it be very enjoyable, well-paced, and

largely underrated. The movie is about two hours long and it makes good use of the time by putting the protagonists in each setting for a time that is not too long and not too short. Over the course of the drama, the protagonists change a lot – especially Tatsuo, who goes through a lot of changes to his views and attitudes about his love for Japan and his attitude toward his rival, Jun-Shik. The film also shows multiple perspectives and how emotions evolve over time, particularly about the Chinese victims of the Japanese occupation and the Korean reaction to being treated as second-rate citizens in their native home of Japanese-occupied Korea. Sadly, their perspectives are cut short; I feel that they could have been explored further or have met a conclusion that felt more concrete. In addition to other criticisms, the film has a few characters that are ultimately forgettable, or literally seem to have been forgotten by the story itself. But every criticism is merely a sidestory of the two protagonists, whose conclusion is bittersweet but concrete. Overall, the film is a criminally unknown film that both casual viewers and history lovers will enjoy.

4.5 out of 5 stars

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OPINION

A D V O C AT E-O N L I N E.N E T

CYBERSECURITY: YOUR PASSWORDS ARE EASY TO CRACK

Carson Koch The Advocate

Your passwords are not good and you should change them. We need to get that out of the way before we continue. If you are anything like me, then you log in to your MHCC portal using your six-digit username, being your student ID number, and then your six-digit birthdate. Nothing to be ashamed of; it is our default username and password, it is easy to remember and pretty user friendly, with the small exception of having to worry about memorizing the ID number. Sadly, there is one major issue with six-digit numbers making up our username and password: They are ridiculously easy to crack. Say you are a hacker, and you want to crack every single possible username and password of everyone in a given company, network or other institution. You can crack every single one in a couple seconds with just two tools, if you learn the basis for either log-in. There is a software called “Crunch” that the Linux operating system comes with it. All a hacker would need to do on their command line, or terminal for Mac, is run Crunch, tell it to generate a wordlist with what is called rules. For example, I tell Crunch to make a wordlist consisting of every possible combination of six-digit numbers. You tell it that you want the wordlists to have exactly six digits in each username. You tell it that each digit is a number, 0-9, and hit enter. In under a second you have just guessed every single such username you seek. And it would be just about as easy to do for the passwords.

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Now you can execute what is called a brute force attack and input every combination of usernames and passwords into the login screen. Ridiculously easy. There are other defenses, but also tools to attack those. For instance – fun fact – if the contents of a phone are seized for evidence, law enforcement has a tool exclusively sold to them that can disable the lockout function of an iPhone and guess every possible combination of numbers for that phone. ENCRYPTION IS KEY It gets worse, trust me. Databases normally store passwords in what’s called a hash, or encryption – in simple terms, creative ways of turning what you say into gibberish. If they aren’t stored in hash, they are stored in plaintext. And, if just the raw password is stored in plaintext, all bets are off and you are just waiting patiently for your password to be hacked. In fact, plaintext data breaches happen constantly, the biggest of which was the RockYou breach. That breach released millions of passwords, which hackers use almost as a bible for password cracking, and was a massive game-changer for hackers. You can download it for free from GitHub. Say, then, that you found where your target stores its passwords, but oh no, they’re hashed. Hashes can come in many types, the most common of which is MD5. Which, while it is impossible to decrypt conventionally, it runs fast, which means you can feed it lots of passwords very quickly. But there are thousands of other types of hashes – NTLM, Argon2, PBKDF2, just to name a few. The best of which being Argon2, which takes a long time to hash, which means it takes hackers much longer to crack those. And yes, you heard me right, the only line of defense for password encryption is how much time it takes to crack. AMAZING SPEED Enter your second tool,

which can come in several forms, including hashcat, which is open source and free to download; JohnTheRipper; and many, many others. These programs operate at breakneck speeds that are just simply incredible to see work. All you have to tell it to do is a few simple things, such as what mode you want it to work in – like attack mode. Then you feed it a wordlist of passwords. You can make your own with Crunch, or use the RockYou database, which contains 32 million passwords. You can also input a list of hashed passwords you want cracked, or tell it to find any combination of lowercase letters, numbers, symbols or whatever you want. In seconds, your tool will hash every password and compare it to your specifications

almost no time to do. To make a list of every default username and password, and then run them through hashcat, would take about a minute. PROTECT YOURSELF So what can you do to keep your passwords safe? First, understand a lot of the services you use are going to be careless and encrypt your passwords using MD5. So, use many different passwords on the sites you use. That way, if you get hacked on one site, you don’t need to worry about all of your other accounts being hacked. And don’t use variants of passwords. For example, if your password is password1234 for YouTube but it’s password123456

Eli Rankin | The Advocate

or list of hashes, and spit back what your hash found, and the cracked passwords. On my computer I ran hashcat over and over because I was simply stunned at how fast it ran. The longest time it took to crack the hashes I put in was five seconds. It normally takes under two seconds, which, bear in mind, means it encrypts 32 million passwords, compares it to the hashes I ask it to crack, and moves on. All in all, this would take just about anybody with a novice understanding of cybersecurity

for Amazon, you will be hacked: It is not hard to guess those. (For Mt. Hood students: Please, change your password from your birthdate, if you haven’t already. Seriously. Like, right now.) Second, make your passwords long and random. Use letters, upper and lowercase letters, symbols and numbers. You can easily look up a random password generator and copy/ paste one into whatever account you make. Third, use a password manager. Most of them are free,

and they automatically encrypt your passwords for you and fill them in on whatever website you’re on, so you never have to remember a password again and you are safer as a result. Google just released a password manager and Apple has one built in to iPhones that uses fingerprint or face ID as your one password to access all of your other passwords. If a password manager isn’t for you, use pass-phrases. Essentially type an easyto-remember sentence, for example, Dasani_water_always_ tastes_weird@12345.6. Passphrases are easy to remember and since they are long, have numbers, symbols and upper and lowercase letters, they are super secure and unique to you, and are almost impossible to crack. Try telling Crunch to generate a wordlist with that gem. At the end of the day, remember that good password security is essential to keep your information safe. More likely than not, one of your accounts will have a data leak at some point and if you remember to use good password hygiene, you will be able to rest easier knowing the rest of your accounts are safe. Overall, for peace of mind, convenience and to make hackers’ lives just that much harder, make sure you secure your data with good passwords. You should not ask yourself if your password will be hacked; you should ask when it will happen. We live in an extremely high-tech and constantly evolving world. It is the Wild West for hacking, and it is shockingly easy for anyone with a computer to steal your passwords with just a few keystrokes and an internet connection. Password leaks happen on a daily basis and within seconds a hacker can crack them with little to no effort. It is imperative that we each stay safe and use good password techniques. Do not become a victim of an attack; instead, be the one person who never got hacked.

OPINION

OCTOBER 25, 2019

GREAT DEBATE: REPEALING THE 17TH AMENDMENT

Brad Le

The Advocate The 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed in 1912, gave American voters the power to directly elect the U.S senators for their state. Previously, senators were selected by their state legislatures instead. Yet, there is an interesting political movement – albeit, a small one – where advocates actually wish to repeal the law. This brings up constitutional questions about what the purpose of the senate is, and if a regression of democracy is really something people should consider. By far the most common argument advocates make for repealing the 17th Amendment is that senate members were not constitutionally designated to be directly elected. The legislative branch in the United States is separated, with two levels: U.S. representatives are meant to represent the people, which is why they’re directly elected by residents in each district, while senators were meant to represent their entire state – as a singular entity. Because the senators are elected by the people and not by the state legislatures, proponents of repeal argue that the senators are representing the people and not the state itself, when it might be necessary. If the state is involved in a certain conflict – economic policy, for example – then a senator would be better equipped to represent the state on matters that might be publicly unpopular but necessary for the state’s economy to survive. In contrast, in a directly elected senate, senators often avoid taking the unpopular route due to a potential loss at re-election. Ultimately, as the repeal argument goes, because senators are elected by voters, they largely appeal to the people and look to future elections rather than worrying about their state’s true best interests.

The idea of repealing the 17th Amendment does not come without criticism, and those arguments are equally interesting. The most common reasoning from the opposition is that in practice it would inevitably lead to corruption in the office. That corruption was one of the main reasons the law was passed in 1912, and is still a concern with modern politics. In addition, some critics would also argue that repeal is politically impractical. If a state’s legislature was overwhelmingly filled with Democrats or Republicans, then the legislature would continue to choose members of that same party to strengthen their political power on the national level. I have Web Graphic always had a penchant for questions related to constitutional interpretation, and the 17th Amendment is one of the more underrated topics in the discussion. I find myself quite split on the topic, as I find both sides to have compelling arguments. The 17th Amendment does make the senatorial office redundant, as senators’ election is now mixed with the populist House of Representatives. Yet, the 17th Amendment also prevents (or at least minimizes) corruption in the office due to having to appeal to the political moods of the people. Overall, the rhetoric against repealing the 17th Amendment remains much stronger than that from advocates of the change. The Amendment does stop senators from making the populist decision when it is harming to the state. Yet, the Senators may be used as party pawns by the state legislature to gain more power of Congress, Ultimately, while I find myself hesitant to insist on repealing the 17th Amendment, I am now deeply sympathetic to the idea of repealing the 17th Amendment. While the movement to repeal the 17th Amendment is small and may never succeed in their goals, I do believe that this is a topic worth discussing as we have to decide the values and priorities of our interpretation of one of the most important political offices in the United States.

INSTAGRAM’S IMPACT ON SOCIETY

Melanie Roberts The Advocate

Every day you wake up knowing that feeling: You have to be like everyone else. Instagram is definitely a very successful social media application. All around the world, many people use it. Influencers, bloggers, celebrities, and lastly just ordinary people… like me and you. Personally, I love Instagram. I’m so obsessed with it because I love the pictures. I’m never not on it, but I do have to be 100% fully honest: I hate how Instagram can lower your self-esteem and confidence, because you know that most people out in the world

have more followers and likes as humans, are all in this together. It is so important to have than you do. This gives me major insecurity, family, friends, and mentors in your life who bring you positivity and hurts my mental health. Instagram has brought down and help you achieve your life my confidence as an individual. goals. Everybody has different life Last year while attending MHCC, goals as you are introduced to the I was cyber-bullied because of my real world. You start to focus on position as Associated Student paying bills, working, taking care Government vice president, and of the family or children, but don’t the false associations I received forget to focus on yourself, as well, from an anonymous person so that you can achieve your goals. You just have to put your on Instagram in a private chat mind to it and have your heart set message. I started feeling depressed and on it. It can be something to do feared that people hated me. Even with social media like Instagram, for people that I knew loved me as YouTube, blogging, or it can a person, I worried that they hated be acting, going to a university, me, because I had low self-esteem having a professional job, and so much more. and low confidence in myself. As for online and offline Instagram just created a tweet about how you can stand up bullying, honestly, it’s not worth it. Whatever people say that’s bad, against bullying, however. The platform said, “Check out just ignore it. I say that, because at our new global sticker designed the end of the day, you know your to help you stand up to bullying, own truth. Of course, bullying support a friend and spread hurts – it has hurt me and brought myself down mentally. positivity on Instagram.” But you just have to keep I really like how Instagram is addressing the trend of bullying building yourself up, and most on its platform: Whether it be importantly, don’t give up. Because online or offline, it is not okay. it’s not worth giving yourself up. Instagram is spreading awareness, so that the people can realize that we, Independent student voice of MHCC

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OPINION

A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T

FOURTH DEMOCRATIC DEBATE MORE VICIOUS THAN USUAL

Chloe Collins The Advocate

Cringe-worthy moments, evasion, and animalistic behavior. What’s not to love? Presidential debates not only offer some of the best entertainment, but also some insight as to how our candidates handle competition. None of these qualities were lacking at the fourth Democratic debate, held in Ohio on Oct. 15. We could spend an entire year discussing each of the four 45–minute parts of the debate hosted by CNN. However, highlights of the debate basically summarize the entire thing. One of the best questions of the night would have to be the first one asked. Anderson Cooper kicked off the debate by asking Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, “Shouldn’t voters in the next elec-

tion decide (President Donald) Trump’s fate, rather than (congressional Democrats) pursuing impeachment?” To summarize an otherwise lengthy answer, Warren responded that nobody is above the law. I would have to agree with her answer. Letting Trump continue his presidency without any sort of consequence for his actions would be actively saying that a president can get away with anything. Not to be dramatic here, but if we allow one president to be above the law, we move a little further away from democracy. What happens when another president breaks the law? The lines would be a little blurry because no one held Trump accountable, so why should they, then, be held accountable? Our action on this will create a chain. The effect of this chain could lead the U.S. to drift farther away from democracy and closer to more authoritarian forms of government. We have to hold steadily to the belief that no one is above the law and our leaders must be held accountable for their actions, just like anyone else. Now for my favorite quote of the night. Cooper asked the candidates if impeachment is a distraction from debating the issues that more impact people’s day-to-day lives.

Julian Castro, former San Antonio mayor and U.S. Housing Secretary, responded, “Not at all. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.” While I liked the spirited answer, I don’t quite agree. Obviously, I believe we should be setting consequences for Trump’s actions, but as far as these early debates go, I think they should stop focusing quite so much on impeachment. We know a lot of these candidates are in Congress and pull some direct weight in the impeachment efforts. So, they should stop wasting so much debate time talking about it and just act on their words. Finally, we were brought to the

“primal instincts” exhibit of the debate. The moderators asked Warren if she would be raising taxes on the middle class to pay for her Medicare-for-all plan. She spent her entire response time evasively dancing around the question and never giving a straight answer. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was given the chance to react to Warren’s response, in which he called her out for dancing around the question and said she could never answer a question straight. I have to say, I agree with Buttigieg on that note. It is so discouraging when candidates can’t answer

During the fourth Democratic debate, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren verbally spar.

a yes or no question in a straightforward manner. However – brace for the animalistic behavior – the debate got a little off-topic when all the other candidates took turns picking at Warren for her evasive answering. I don’t think every single one of them needed to say their piece about it. The question became more about Warren than her politics, and after a few minutes, reminded me of vultures picking at a dead subject. Overall, the debate was extremely long, and the questions were pretty tired. I’m hoping the next debate will pack a little more punch.

Web Photo

DISNEY MOVING TOWARD NATIONAL DOMINATION OF THE MEDIA

Parrish Chang The Advocate

Over the past decade we have seen The Walt Disney Co. buying and taking over many different media companies. In August 2009, it announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion. It obtained the rights to Lucasfilm studios and the “Star Wars” franchise in 2012 for another $4 billion. These were only the first of an entire campaign of Disney buying many different entities. But has this PA G E 8

been a bad thing, and does Disney deserve the success of the franchises they obtained? Disney bought Marvel, giving them access to all of the Marvel heroes and the movies it made. This didn’t happen without its own struggles, however. Stan Lee’s media company and Marvel’s online marketing team tried to press a lawsuit against Disney for claiming Marvel Entertainment’s movies, but they dropped the charges in February 2011.

OHHHH BOY! Mickey would be more richer than ever before. WELCOME MARVEL and LUCASFILM to my magical world!!!

Two years later, Marvel Comic creator Jack Kirby pressed charges against Disney, trying to get Disney to remove its copyrights on the silver age characters of Marvel, and stop their profiting from Kirby’s creations. The judge ruled in favor of Marvel and Disney; eventually, Kirby stopped his protests in 2014. Disney and Marvel’s partnership didn’t come without its share of hate and controversy, but they worked hard to get where they are now. Meantime, Disney’s buyout of Lucasfilm Studios and the Star Wars franchise is made obvious now by Disney’s animated shows, “Star Leydi Perez Carrasco | The Advocate

Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels.” After a meeting with Disney CEO Bob Iger, founder George Lucas confided that he was planning on retiring and selling his company, along with the Star Wars franchise. The purchase of the studio gave Disney the rights to “Indiana Jones,” Star Wars, and all of their related video games. Since then, Disney put out five Star Wars movies, numerous Star Wars cartoons, and many Star Wars-related attractions in Disney parks across the globe. However the biggest topic of discussion is the movies the company has put out since the merge: “The Force Awakens” (2015), “Rogue One” (2016), “The Last Jedi” (2017), “Solo” (2018), and its most recent, “The Rise of Skywalker” (2019). These movies are often heavily critiqued by seasoned Star Wars fans because they were nothing like the ones made by Lucasfilms.

However, they are great for those who didn’t grow up with the originals and want to go back and watch them. Overall, Disney has gone through multiple trials from both the legal side of its expansion and from dedicated fans of the original studios. Disney worked hard to get where it is today and is dedicated to keep giving us new things from the companies we love. Even if you’re not the biggest fan of the new Star Wars films, we need to give credit where it’s due. Disney has produced masterpieces from the Marvel side of its films. A lot of these Marvel/Disney films have become a new generation’s favorites and have introduced it to heroes that haven’t seen the spotlight for years. So, the question remains, is Disney’s takeover a bad thing? To date, the future looks really bright, with Disney’s dedication to these studios.