Blame the FEC

I first became aware of Citizens United while doing current events for government, however it wasn't until I started watching The Colbert Report that I began truly researching the case and campaign finance. This article was really helpful to me because I have always thought that Citizens United was to blame for the chaos and I never took the time to explore other causes for campaign corruption. Citizens United played a large role in allowing unlimited campaign spending, but it can not be held responsible for the two biggest problems in campaign spending, which are Super PACs and secret donors.

Stephen Colbert focused a lot on campaign spending during his show and he actually created a Super PAC to demonstrate to his audience how sketchy campaign spending can be. He managed to collect around 800K from anonymous donors for his Super PAC, and through many legal loopholes he ended up not having to report how he spent the money collected. The thing is a lot of these loopholes could be closed if the FEC enforced campaign law more strictly. Partisan disagreements and stubbornness have been the cause for all the problems, like the rest of Washington, people are more concerned with their party winning rather than talking things out and compromising. The FEC is equally split party wise, however since about 1996 both parties have sought to protect soft money contributions. FEC regulations have been weakened in order to protect the use of soft money, and while the Democrats have become more anti soft money, the Republicans embrace it even more. This division has resulted in grid-lock, meaning there is no room for action so all the old ineffective laws have remained.
The law states that Political Action Committees are supposed to be independent from Candidates yet with loose enforcement this past election PACs were created by candidate family members, friends, previous employees, and so on; often the Candidates would meet with committee leaders and publicly endorse the PAC. Correct me if I am wrong but that is not independence. The law is present but the FEC is failing to do it's job.
A change need to be made to stop the secret spending and law bending. One option is to stop appointing partisan officials and appoint bipartisan outsiders willing to enforce the laws and set regulations rather than seek to please their party. This year it can be said that the election wasn't bought because Romney lost, yet Obama had the advantage of being an incumbent and with that gone in 2016 the chaos of this year will be a joke compared to what can happen if laws aren't enforced.
I have a lot of trust in this article because it was written by Trevor Potter. Usually I don't know the authors of  article so I rely on their credentials, but as a faithful Colbert viewer I am familiar with Mr. Potter. He is Colbert's Lawyer and a previous FEC commissioner and chairman; he has made many appearances on The Colbert Report discussing campaign spending and helping Colbert expose the loopholes many political contributors and Politicians use.

Potter, Trevor. "We Can Stop the Tidal Wave of Secret Political Cash." Washington Post. 18 Nov 2012: B.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 11 Dec 2012.

Technology

The main goal behind my mentorship was advertising, and a lot of technology was involved. However it wasn't very advanced or hard to obtain technology. The thing I noticed was Mrs. Cooley's most valuable resource was email. Running a campaign is all about appealing to people and the best way to do that is by building a relationship with them. Email gave Mrs. Cooley the ability to build that relationship without using much time and it allowed her to reach a lot more people. She would keep potential voters updated on events and the benefits of voting Cooley with a quick two minute informational email sent to a mail group of as many people as she wanted to include. Another valuable communication device was her iPhone, with it she could not only call people, which was her preferred method of communications because it was more personal, but also stay up to date with her mail, and use a variety of nifty apps. Social Media also played an important role in the campaign. Websites like Facebook and Twitter allowed Mr. Cooley's name to become more popular and brought in some more supporters, plus it kept people informed on the Campaign. Supporters could share the Cooley for Congress posts or tag the page and inform their followers/friends of Cooley. Towards the latter part of the campaign we expanded to radio advertising which was really convenient, because the radio stations gave reports on the most successful ad, and played it the most.

A program that I learned about was Vote Builder. It wasn't used in Cooley's campaign because it wasn't very cost efficient, but I personally think it's a very useful program. Vote Builder is used by the Georgia Democratic party to attract more votes. It is basically a record of all registered Georgia voters, and it includes details that could be used to target voters. For example it includes the voter's Religion, Age, Party Affiliation, number of people in household and their ages, voting record, and a lot of other personal details. It also allows for Robocalls to be made and mass mailing lists based on the detail of your choice, for example you could send a letter to all African American twenty-three year old males in District 9. The information on Vote Builder can be extremely valuable if used intelligently and with a manipulative goal.

I think any future technological innovations would be beneficial to campaigns. Politics is a game of charm and being able to relate to the public. The best innovations in the political field is anything that improves communication, but that involves a wide range of things. Improved planes and cars means an improvement for politicians to travel to the people, Social Media offers cheap advertisement, and web cams allow human interaction without physical presence; an adaptable candidate will be able to use whatever technology is developed to his or her favor.

I'm still not sure about the specifics of my project presentation but I know that computers will be involved. Right now I am leaning towards a video project because I find a movie like presentation that allows me to make creative cuts, add sound effect/music, and present information in a visually exciting way is an effective way for me to present my research. A video also allows me more exposure opportunities because if I do it correctly I should be able to just send a link to people without me having to explain anything in person. Another perk is that I can satisfy the performing art geek in me by creating a video. :)

Broken Society

  I have always considered myself a successful person, and I have often been recognized for my success which is something I greatly enjoy. However in eighth grade a broken system caused me to lose an opportunity. Every year the counselors would pick the top Hispanic students in the eighth grade and take them on a trip to visit the University of Georgia. UGA tries to diversify their campus by offering this opportunities to outstanding Hispanics, and giving them scholarship and college applications information, and allowing them to tour the school. I was more than confident that I would be chosen to go because I was definitely in the top of my class, and that was including all races, once it was lowered to just Hispanics I'm sure I was like first or second. However I noticed that I wasn't getting called up to meet with the counselors. I assumed that they just hadn't gotten to my name yet or been able to reach me so I just continued on with life and figured I would eventually get chosen. Well the day came when all the chosen students went on the trip and I was never invited. I was shocked to say the least and so were my teachers and classmates, I started to doubt my abilities and was depressed most of the day. Anyways later I found out that, while I hadn't been called up a Filipino friend of mine had been invited but she told them she wasn't Hispanic so she wasn't taken. That immediately made my suspicious and I put two and two together and realized I wasn't invited because they assumed I was white! When I talked to the counselor about it she even told me it was only for Hispanic students, at which point I informed her I was Hispanic but by then it was too late. This fits right under Godin's "I didn't know" model because the fact that I don't fit the stereotypical Hispanic profile, therefore preventing them from knowing my race caused me to miss out on an opportunity to prepare for my future. I'm sure the counselors were trying to save time by not looking at records but if they had looked they would have known I was qualified rather than just assume that since I "look" white and "act" white I was white. This actually happens to me a lot, I am constantly having to explain to people that I am Hispanic, but this is one of the few times when I have actually lost something because of people's assumptions.
   That's one of society's greatest problems, stereotypes and assumptions. I believe schools should try to teach our students to not judge or assume about others, because in today's global age we all need to learn to be open-minded about different people. Globalization means future generations will interact with diversity even more than we do today, and as educators schools need to invoke students with the social skills necessary to succeed in a global market and not categorize people through inaccurate generalizations and stereotypes. I believe it's human nature to judge and try to categorize strangers however, people need to learn to ignore that part of the brain and to not let first impressions inhibit them from learning the truth about a person. Tolerance is an important key to success and values like that are best taught at young ages and the best way to become tolerant is to become informed. If schools taught more about other cultures then students would be more likely to accept them because it would be familiar to them.
  I am not implying that I was judged or discriminated against, I know it was an honest mistake. However, the system was broken because information was lacking, so an assumption based on a stereotype to save time was made.

My Essential Question

 Examine and explain how large contributions by corporations and wealthy individuals to politicians influence laws, political decisions, campaigns, and my rights as a citizen, and evaluate the level of power large contributors hold compared to average citizens like me in recent and past decades? Report whether my research changed my views and plans, and predict the effect it could have on my political campaign if I run for office.

I first learned about Political Action Committees first semester of my junior year in AP Government, since that first lesson I have been interested in the role money has in government. I have never really taken the time to thoroughly research the subject, most of what I know has been from class or from looking stuff up after watching The Colbert Report. However this project gives me an excuse to finally find out more about how money shapes our society especially in recent years and just how deep of a hole we're in. What makes me most excited is the potential of what I could do with the knowledge from this research. Hopefully I will be able to find out things that aren't publicly known and I will be able to inform about and if I'm super lucky discover some corruption or surprising lack of corruption in Politics. Many people are oblivious to how much political contributions are influencing our country and the amount of power these contributors have and finding answers to my question, will hopefully enlighten enough people to encourage them to make a change. Another reason I'm excited is because I'm a very curious person and the amount of investigation opportunities researching this project will offer will make me feel like a secret agent/journalist, which were two careers I used to be interested in, plus ease my mind. I thought a lot about how to word my question so that it would show most of what I wanted to discover through my project. I believe that I created a question that meets my needs as best as I could do without it getting too lengthy or confusing. My main goal is to find out who is controlling our country (people or money?) and I'm confident my question will satisfy that goal. Rubric

A money ruled republic.

FANG, LEE. "Look Who's Buying The Election." Nation 295.12 (2012): 11-17. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Oct. 2012.

The U.S Supreme court's 2010 Citizens United ruling has resulted in the buying out of elections all over the country. Citizens United gave corporations unlimited say in elections by decreasing PAC regulations and opening up loopholes that basically allows money laundering. Billions of dollars have already been spent in just the two years after the ruling towards campaign ads favoring big business candidates. Our nation is slowly becoming a corporate and 1% run nation because as more money goes to politicians the greater the chance of them winning the election and once in office their policies will favor the corporations or individuals that funded them. Ads funded by PACs in the 2010 midterm elections were the main cause for the house turn over. Big investors were found in oil companies who came together in associations like the American Petroleum Institute; unhappy with Obama's Environmentalist views they funded Republicans and pro-oil candidates to take over Washington.The biggest benefactors from Citizens United have been trade associations or 501(c)(6) organizations. These associations are very similar to PACs and Super PACs but the major difference is disclosure; even though restrictions were lessened on PACs they are still required to disclose donors, which often backfires for corporations because they could lose costumers. On the other hand, trade associations are not required to disclose information except in certain cases, and those cases become public a full year after the donation is made, and even then specifics about the corporations who donated are omitted. This means that often only the people involved know what is going on leaving the rest of the public and media oblivious to the extent of corruption and government control these organizations have. The obvious negative affect in this system is that not only can wealthy individuals run our country through PACs but now multi-billion corporations can control Washington through trade associations. However a hidden affect that many people fail to notice is that 501(c)(6) organizations also allow foreign business interference in our government.

"Current FEC rules allow a foreign-owned corporation tospend in an American election as long as its subsidiary is registeredin the United States, the money used for electioneering isgenerated from US-based operations, and the election spendingdecisions are made by American citizens or green-card holders."

Trade associations are able to avoid the above rules because the lack of disclosure, corrupt use of loopholes, and money exchanges makes foreign contributors practically untraceable and impossible to monitor.  Now companies like Aramco, a Saudi Arabian Oil Company, are donating billions to influence U.S elections in their favor without much care for the American citizen. The worst part is that Washington is full of  PAC and 501(c)(6) funded politicians so any attempts to challenge citizens united or raise restrictions are quickly shut down, including Presidential Executive Orders. President Obama suggested passing an Executive Order to force organizations to disclose contributors, and outrage emerged, associations came together to help support legislation that would stop the President from enacting his Order, and the succeeded. If corporations even have control over the President, how can we call ourselves a country "by the people, for the people"?

Lee Fang uses a number of credible quotes from former FEC employees, and statistics concerning specific relevant legislation and reports. It is easy to tell that he is biased and opposed to PACs, but quite honestly the general public is, it's difficult to find supporters of PACs who aren't big businesses. However I feel like his data was well presented and honest, as well as easy to confirm and further research in order to find the opposing view. The most persuasive point he make's is the influence of foreign corporations in our country. Any normal American would be outraged to learn that corporations in Saudi Arabia or China are influencing our government and helping to put people in office, who make decisions concerning our lives. I was certainly disgusted by that news and the level of influence money has in our decisions. Overall it was an extremely informative article and it clearly explains what PACs and trade associations are and how they were developed and the negative affects they have on our country. It also gives insight to how our political process is changing and the effects that Citizens United has had in just two years.

Innovative Education

As a student I can relate to most of the points made by Sir Robinson and I agree. I really enjoyed the fast food learning comparison because there has been many occasions when I felt like my education was too standardized. Thankfully for me class options like AP and being Gifted allowed me to enjoy my education more but whenever I was in a regular class setting and even in some AP classes, I felt like teachers were focused on only teaching us the bare minimum and having us pass rather than exceed. I attribute this to No Child Left Behind so I'm not blaming teachers but if I had been taught in a more creative manner and encouraged to explore and pursue my passions earlier on in life I believe I would have had a more successful school career. I also agree with not everyone needing a college education. Today a college education doesn't guarantee a job, so in some cases it can even be a waste of money. What people need is to pursue their passions and if college isn't part of it then they shouldn't be forced by society to attend.

 

   I have always been fascinated with the universe and how it works, so if I had the resources and time I would  use it to investigate our mysteries. I would love to discover if there is life in other galaxies, and whether the Big Bang Theory is accurate, and facts to settle the whole creation issue. I also believe that if I was able to solve those questions we would have a better society, and we could fix our problems like pollution, wars, over population, and so on. Another benefit is that Knowledge is power so I would be able to use my power to make a positive difference in the world, which is the reason I am interested in politics.

  Attitude definitely has more influence. I might be the most intelligent person in the world but if I don't care and I spend all my time playing video games, all that aptitude will go to waste. On the other hand someone not as intelligent but who is passionate and hard working will become successful and with enough dedication can become as knowledgeable.

   I don't see why it would need to be abolished. People respond to incentives and fear of getting an F is enough incentive for students to try. Society today is built around trying to make kids believe they are amazing, can achieve anything, and giving multiple chances for redemption but the real world doesn't always work that way. You will always be evaluated and a bad day doesn't mean you can get a second chance. Our current grading system is strict enough especially since only the top 30% constitutes as passing, it encourages students to try their absolute best. Problems arise when teachers work around that grading system and make it easier for students giving them a false sense that all of society will always have their success in mind.

   I have definitely encountered problems with procrastination (as the lateness of this post suggests), the absence of a teacher constantly reminding me about homework and the absence of fear from receiving an evil glare or look of disappointment if I turn something in late, has caused my habit of procrastinating to get worse. However I am glad that I noticed this now while I still have time to fix it rather than waiting until I have a job or a difficult college class. It will take some discipline and time from me to learn to manage my time and not wait until the last second but hopefully I will learn it sooner rather than later.

College Decisions

I have dedicated a lot of time considering universities and careers. Eighth grade until tenth I was positive my dream school was Oxford University and I was just going to figure out my career after I was accepted. My plans and goals have now taken a complete turn around.
The three school that would satisfy my political career dreams are Duke University in North Carolina (http://duke.edu/) , Harvard in Massachusetts (http://www.harvard.edu/), and Georgetown in Washington D.C(http://www.georgetown.edu/). One of the criteria I used was name recognition. I have learned from my Mentorship that popularity and connections are extremely important for politicians. Attending a distinguished school eases the minds of voters and let's them think you are smart, eve if you're a horrible candidate. However, I did actually research and those three schools have the best political science programs in the country.
Another thing I considered was location. My dream has always been to study abroad and travel but if I want to run for office voters would feel more comfortable with a person who studied inside the United States. Therefore, I have decided to attend an American school and satisfy my travelling goals through study abroad opportunities with-in the school. One of the main reasons I am interested in Georgetown is for its location in D.C. As I said earlier connections are a valuable part of a politician's life and living in our nations capital will offer the best internship opportunities and experience. Each school requires previous intro to government classes and clear choice of Political Science major plus specific prerequisite classes, and Harvard requires a bachelor's degree before being accepted into the Kennedy School of Gov't.
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings
Harvard is ranked number one in the nation for political science, while Duke is nine, and Georgetown is 39. The criteria for ranking in this particular source was based on peer reviews and surveys. Students were given assessments and based off those assessments political science program rankings were issued. Georgetown and Duke offer a rigorous honors program that consists of more work and a student thesis. I wasn't able to find a program for Harvard but I'm assuming that's because the Kennedy School is already rigorous enough.
Politically interested people are able to join the American Political Science Association or Pi Sigma Alpha, benefits expand far after college and is geared to encourage political careers.
 Scholarships:
1.COAG Scholarship:
2. Coca-Cola Scholars Program
3. Gates Millennium Scholarship
4.Hispanic Scholarship Fund

I believe I can compose a sentence!!!

"Mayra was an open-minded, optimistic, dreamer."

Two weeks of Junk

The past two weeks have literally been the busiest two weeks of my life! I will begin with the luncheon at the country club. Elaine Shannon was amazing! I learned so much about injustices and corruptness that faces our world, and the different views on freedom had by different countries. I will never take for granted our first amendment right after listening to her speak, it's truly astonishing to realize exactly how free we are in this country and the importance of our freedom. Also I saw Butch Miller again and he remembered me! Funny Story: after the Luncheon, as I was driving home, I was dancing and singing in my car and I pulled up to a red light. I continued to be my crazy self at the red light and dance and sing only to turn around as the light turned green and discover Mr. Miller was in the car next to me and he saw me! He just laughed and waved at me as I quickly drove away embarrassed.

Now to Saturday.......
If I didn't know I was a liberal before the "constitution" class given by the Tea Party more than confirmed my political views! I sat there for 8 hours listening to so many skewed facts about our constitution it literally, I'm serious, made me sick. I thank the thought notebook given to me by Mrs. Mellette for keeping me sane throughout the whole ordeal, because I vented to that journal the whole class. At one point I couldn't take it anymore and I had to raise my hand and point out an inaccuracy to the guy giving the class, but being the well educated speaker he was, he intelligently dismissed my question. -_- On the other hand as enraging as the class was, I'm glad I went. If I want to seriously pursue a career in politics, I need to become acquainted with all the different views the public has, and this class was a true eye opener to the basis behind fundamental conservative ideology.
 
Tuesday I went back to the Country Club for Youth Leadership and learned about Etiquette. It was an amazing experience and the only thing I disliked was that the class was given after the Luncheon, because I would have loved to have had all that information while sitting at a table full of important Bank people.
What really kept me busy last week however was Questbridge. I think I was up until at least 1 am everyday, there was days when I was up until 3, working on my application and essays. What made it harder was that it was also competition week, so I would spend all day at school and my afternoons at band practice or a club meeting, and then I would come home to Questbridge and homework, I also had a test for my GSC class that week, and an interview for the US State Senate Youth Program. However, as busy as I was it was a successful week. I finished my application, our band won first place at competition, I felt pretty confident about my test, I found out I was voted most likely to succeed,  and I got a free taco at Taco Bell!
 
 As far as my mentorship is concerned, I love it! Mr. and Mrs. Cooley are two of the most amazing people I have ever met, and I agree with most of their views. I haven't done any glamorous work with them so far but that's what I love. When I applied to Honors Mentorship, my goal was to learn about the real world, and all the details in a job that aren't mentioned by the media. I'm learning what it  really means to run a campaign, and all the tedious non-glamorous work associated with it.

$Money Matters$

"We do not break the bad habit of debt through earning more money, but rather we break any habit by replacing it with a better one"

Debt rarely occurs from low income, the cause of it is usually poor choices. When I read the last phrase of that quote "but rather....better one" I believe that the new habit refers to budgeting and saving. A person will usually be in some form of debt, however one has to know how to handle owing money and pay off the debt in a smart, timely, manner to avoid stress. Managing one's debt and budgeting is a way to "break the bad habit of debt"; when a person doesn't have to stress about money than that debt is no longer a huge burden and is more likely to diminish.

I'm pretty sure that I will have to suffer some financial trouble in the future probably sooner than later. The job market right now scares me and even though I'm pretty confident in the career I have chosen and my abilities, I'm rational enough to not expect a perfect job right out of college. Miracles happen though and I could get lucky and have a job but even then during my college years I foresee financial troubles. However I am confident that I have the skills to overcome said troubles and I doubt I will encounter anything disastrous. 

Money absolutely factored into my major choice! I want to become an Engineering Manager and later in life a Politician. Politics is my true passion and I chose I out of love rather than money. On the other hand, my choice of being an Engineer was strongly swayed by how much they earn and the security in that job market. I mean I really enjoy science and I'm good at math so I know I will enjoy an Engineering career, however my main goal is to be in Washington and Engineering is just a money making choice for me. My plan is to use the money I earn from Engineering to finance my campaign and to give my life diversity. In my opinion money should definitely be considered when choosing a career. A person has to evaluate what type of life they want and pick a career that will give them the salary to support said life style. If a man wants a wife and six children, a career at McDonald's is not going to be enough to support his family. Money should't be the biggest and main factor for choosing a career but it should definitely be taken into account.--




   

Mission statement

" I will use my ambition positively and assume a position of power where I will use my open-mindedness, rationality, optimism, honesty, trust, and intelligence to make a positive difference in many lives. I will keep a down to earth attitude and avoid being corrupted by sticking to my values and focusing on making other people's lives brighter rather than focusing on my own selfish desires. Most importantly I will make sure to always remember that my job as a leader is to serve."

What I most wish to gain is real world knowledge and experience. I can research and read all the books and articles concerning government and campaigns but none of it compares to actually working and being involved. I am hoping to learn about all the small, non-glamorous, tedious details that are left out of public knowledge. I will achieve that by doing more than just the bare minimum and making sure I stay focused all year on the job at hand. This will prepare me because I will learn what the job market is really like and what it takes to pursue a political career or any other career. I will also learn about the importance of human interactions and connections and how to professionally handle myself.

Lapdog/ Ted Talks

The Lapdog trip was one of the most fun things I've ever done and that actually surprised me because I was unaware I could find hanging 80ft above the ground fun. It was truly a challenge to me not only because of the height and objectives but because I am not a physical contact person. It was funny how quickly I stopped caring about personal space though once I had to rely on my group to not fall. Also the fact that we were all relying on one another made me put aside my own problems to focus on the group problem. I believe that the role of trusting was a lot harder than being trusted. There was a lot of pressure from everyone relying on you however I've found that I work well under pressure and I was comfortable and confident with that position because I knew in the end I could do it. However when it came to trusting others I was more weary. As an entire group I was confident in us but when I had to trust just one specific member that was when the nerves came in. I didn't know more than half my team and not knowing their strengths or weakness made me doubtful. On the other hand the people I did know were easier to trust but only at certain times because I was aware of their weaknesses so when a situation where a weakness was exposed occurred I tended to take the lead because I wasn't comfortable trusting them. I felt that there was never one leader in our group we would trade off depending on our strengths and it was usually a group of leaders instead of one person. Basically when I had an idea or something I could offer I would serve my team, which is what I've always been told is the most important job of a leader : to serve. The main things I learned were communication is key and to continue trying until you succeed. The concepts are pretty simple but actually applying them is more difficult. I have to make sure I'm a good listener but also that I voice my questions and opinions so others can help me and we can cooperate and understand each other more effectively. The second lesson has been taught to us since we were babies and it's all about persistence and getting back up. Challenges will always emerge and there will be times when I fail but I just have to keep looking forward and learn from my mistakes. 

 I really enjoyed the ted talks video and the happiness philosophy presented. I believe myself to be a pretty positive person but what he said is true; I have always measured happiness through success. The 5 habits to happiness were:

1. A gratitude journal (3 things per day)

2. positive experience journal ( 1 per day)

3. Exercise

4.Meditation

The most appealing of the 5 to me is Random Acts of Kindness. I feel that helping others will be more satisfying to me than any of the other four ways. I am very interested in trying the 21 day challenge and while it'll be hard to remind myself to do it every day I want to try the Random Acts of Kindness.

First Encounters

First impressions matter! Regardless of years of hearing people say "Don't judge a book by it's cover" the podcast and handout emphasize the reality of human nature, and our dependence on first impressions. The main point was to always be prepared to make a good first impression because it will make it simpler to form good relationships among coworkers. To achieve this a person has to basically focus on three things: Confidence, Curiosity, and Concentration. Successful first conversations should focus on your employer and yourself only. You need to summon your inner 'I'm awesome and I know it" spirit to become confident but also remember that you are probably standing in front of an equally amazing person and interrogate them on their awesome achievements. A great first conversation can make all the difference and makes up for not having a mind-blowing first impression appearance. Once first impression about you are made the next step is all about concentration. You have to stay focused and notice as many details as possible to learn all you can and impress your coworkers with your quick  learning skills. Use all available resources to research as much as you can about the people and customs around the office, and concentrate on forming relationships with as many coworkers as you can. Continue to always sell yourself and stay in the front of people's minds so you can build a reliable positive image of your self to the organization, and always have a smile on your face to enhance your reputation. Keeping the three C's in mind will allow you to be informed, well liked, valuable, and over all successful in the scary world of jobs and adults.