Hillary Clinton Email Scandals

Hillary Clinton

Yesterday Hilary Clinton came out to say that the new emails that were released were dated before she said that her private server was operational. She is quoted with saying, "There was about a month where I didn't have everything already on the server, and we went back, tried to recover whatever we could recover. I think it's also fair to say that there are some things about this that I just can't control. I can't control the technical aspects of it." Clinton is trying to fix the problems that these emails are causing because they are affecting her political poles. All of this is confusing because weeks ago she claimed that all the emails had been turned in. 
Hillary Clinton Explains Discrepancy In When She Began Using Private Email Server

Joyce Mitchell Sentenced

Joyce Mitchell

A former New York prison worker, Joyce Mitchell, is facing two to seven years in prison after helping two murderers escape. She pleaded guilty earlier this summer with providing tools to the murderers to help them escape from maximum security jail. The two escapes were caught, one was killed and the other was found wounded. Monday she got the sentence of the two to seven years in prison and is quoted with saying, "If I could take it back I would, but I can't".
New York Prison Worker Who Helped In Escape Faces Seven-Year Sentence

U.S. Born Poputlaiton

Citizenship and Immigration

Foreign born population has been growing very fast and "it could break a 125- year old record within the next decade." This information is from the Pew Research Center research that was finalized today. 13.7% of people living in the U.S. were born out of the country in 2015 and this number is projected to reach 14.9% by 2025. The previous highest was in 1890 with 4.8%. This is a "problem" talked about a lot with the presidential candidates, most are for adding more security to the borders and limiting immigration. It will be interesting to see what the country does under this circumstance and how they use these new numbers to make their points.
U.S. Born Population Nears High

Decline to Halt Execution

Angry Judge

On Monday morning a federal judge declined the "halt to the Tuesday's execution of the only women on death row". Her name is Kelly Renee Gissendanter and in 1997 was convicted of murdering her husband with the help of her lover. The lover got sentenced with life in jail while she is being sentenced to the death penalty. Kelly's lawyers tried to get the Judge to to consider a request that they filed in March, but the Judge did not take it. The lawyers plan to take it to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge Declines to Halt Execution of Female Inmate in Georgia

Volkswagen

Volkswagen Logo

Volkswagen is facing a huge scandal because they have been "cheating admission tests in the United States according to the Environmental Protection Agency." On some of Volkswagen's diesel vehicles they placed a device that can detect when they are being tested and change the performance to improve adults. This is a problem because the engines release 40 times more nitrogen oxide pollutants that is allowed in the U.S. Volkswagen has come forward saying that they messed up and has recalled over 500,000 vehicles. This problem is turning many peoples heads, not only Volkswagen owners but also environmental activists.
Volkswagen: The Scandal Explained

Republican GOP Debate

All Republican Candidates in 2nd GOP Debate

Last night, Wednesday September 16th, the second republican presidential candidate debate occurred. In past candidate debates and other things Trump has taken over and controlled the entire thing, however this was not the case last night. Of course he got angry and trying to but the other candidates did not just standby this time. Every candidate made good points and none had any major mess ups. Fiorina was the most surprising candidate last night. She stood her ground and even began to take Trump down with his own words. Trump held his tongue much more than usual last night and was seen as a little more cordial. It will be interesting to see where the polls stand after last night and if Trump's following declined and if Fiornia's grew.
Carly Fiorina Delivers As Trump Takes Some Hits In GOP Debate

Homemade Clock Thought To Be Bomb

Ahmed Mohamed's Homemade Clock

On Monday September 14th a freshman from Irvin, Texas was arrested and sent to juvenile detention after bringing a clock that he made to school and it being misconstrued as a bomb. Ahmed Mohamed a Muslim 14 year old who has a passion for robotics brought a homemade clock made out of a pencil case and a circuit board  to school to impress his teachers. Ahmed was taken to the principles office later that day to be threatened with expulsion. He was out of juvenile detention with no charge but his story caught the attention of the media and even made it to the white house. People are upset about the stereotyping as well as the jump to conclusion that was a completely innocent act of a young, innocent boy.
Muslim 9th Grader Ahmed Mohamed Arrested for Bringing Homemade Clock to School

Russia Military Growing in Syria

Antonov-124 Condor

"First clear sign of offensive weapons arrive in Syria"-a no named defense official told Fox News on Monday. Russia's military in Syria has grown to now include the shipment of 6 battle tanks along with more troops. The pentagon has been keeping track of the shipments and so far there are a total of 15 Russian Antonov-124 Condor flights into Syria. Each of these contains a large supply of military cargo. All previous weapons that have been delivered to Syria could be seen as " defensive in nature" but this all changed with the arrival of the tanks. THe large Condor flights are bringing cargo for the Russian soldiers twice a day and this is starting to be seen as the buildup to helping aid the Bashar Assad's regime.
Russia Shipping Tanks Into Syria

US Planning to Accept Syrian Refugees

Syrian Refugees

There is talk that the United States is planning on accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees. Since the  civil war broke out over four years ago in the middle east around 1,500 migrates have been allowed to live in the United States. It is said that the White House has been continuously pressured to do more in the middle east than send money to help thousands of people so this is the solution that is being proposed. However to be allowed into the US you must be a Syrian that was already in the "pipeline" and have been waiting to get in. The reasoning behind this is that the Syrian refugees would boost the United States response. I'm sure many people will have a lot to say upon this topic as it becomes more well known.
Obama wants to admit 10,000 Syrians refugees in 2016

California Bill Passed for Assisted Suicide

California Cancer Patient FIghting for her Rights

On Friday California State Legislatures approved the bill for doctors to help terminally ill patients to commit suicide. California is the fifth state to adopt assisted suicide they accompany Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont. The bill passed in California Senate by a vote of 23 to 14. The law however has changes and means. These includes that the law will expire in 10 years and must be re approved, a private consultant between patient and doctor, the patient must be responsive and answer yes three times before they are allowed to go through with the suicide. The reasoning behind assisted suicide is that it gives people a chance to take their lives into their own hands and "die with dignity". California is a big state that has a lot of influence so if assisted suicide is passed within California it is thought that many more will follow.
California Legislature Approves Assisted Suicide

Federalism

1. "Federalism is the mode of political organization that unites separate states or other polities within an overreaching political system in such a way as to allow each to maintain its own fundamental political integrity"Britannica

2. There are 195 nation-states in the world.

3. There are 25 countries in the world that have a federal system of government. These include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan,  Switzerland, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia,Herzegovina, Comoros, Malaysia,
 Micronesia, Nepal, Russia, St. Kitts, Nevis, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Venezuela, Iraq, Sudan.

4. The countries that govern under federalism all seem to be relatively large in size and population such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, and Australia.

5. "A unitary form of government is a converse of federation and is a system in which all powers are centralized in the hands of central government."study lecture notes

6. More than 168 states have unitary governments. The 5 largest according to GDP are China, Japan, United Kingdom, France, and Italy. The 5 largest according to population are China, Indonesia. Bangladesh, Japan, and the Philippines.

7. The difference between unitary governments and federal governments is that power is spread in one and centralized in the other. In a federal government, some rights are given to independent states while in an unitary government is a central power, one high power controls the entire government.

8.

    This political cartoon is showing the idea that states want to benefits of federalism but do not want the federal authority that comes along with it. Thats why the quote on the bottom reads, "in two words, yes and no". They are saying yes the benefits of being able to be apart of the choices but are saying no to the governmental authority that they will have over them. 

                          

                                                                                9. The perspective of government involvement in this political cartoon is that government is too involved in personal lives.  This person is obviously going through cancer treatment and is using medical marijuana to dull the pain. The government is showing their view on marijuana even if it helping people.                                                                            









10.                                                                                  

In this political cartoon government is saying that they believe in federalism and believe that states should be allowed to make they're on rights. But then at the end of the cartoon we see California propose an idea to the government and they do not go for it. I think this is showing that government is much more involved than they would like us to think. 

11. The video uses the metaphor for a three layered cake to describe federalism. It shows that there are three layers to federalism local, state, and federal. As the layers get bigger the responsibilities in each group get bigger. 

12. 

This image shows that there is no layering system to federalism. All local, state, and federal affairs are equal and intertwined with one another. No one section out weighs another.

Women in the Army

On Wednesday the Army announced that "regardless of gender required personal will be allowed to attend all elite Ranger Course classes". This announcement came mere days after two women graduated from combat training. These two women "opened the doors" to other women applicants that hope to be on the same level as many men in the army. All requirements for the course will stay the same, females are held to the same standards as men. It is still unclear on how the transgender community will come into play on this situation but as it seems any gender will be taken in as long as requirements are made. I think that this is great because women deserve the same opportunities as men  but I like the idea that the requirements for men and women are the same to create equality.
Army allows women to attend elite Ranger Course classes

John Kasich Snapchat Filter

The political campaign is being taken over by the internet. Starting earlier this week presidential candidate Rand Paul came out with an app and another presidential candidate John Kasich also "showed up" on snap chat. Rand Paul created the app to expand his campaign into social media users. The app gives news, status on issues, and an easy accessible way to donate to his campaign. Josh Kasick turned to snap chat and made a new filter for the citizens of New Hampshire to promote his campaign. The filter read, " Kasick for president" with a picture of bacon at the bottom. He used snap chat to gather in the youth into the political campaign, because snap chat is a very youth oriented app unlike twitter where all ages are in us. I think that it is a very smart idea to start turning the political campaign to the internet. So much of today is done on the internet so why not campaign on there as well.
@016 Presidential Digital Strategy: Selfies, Laser, and Bacon

Protest for Abortion Right

On Wednesday Texas abortion clinics went to the Supreme Court to ask for a repeal of shrinking the abortion clinic amount from 40 to 10 throughout the entirety of Texas. The last major abortion case was in 2007, so the likelihood of this case being taken is high. The Texans fight is about the fact that Texas is the second biggest state in terms of population and with that comes around 5 million women reproducing a year. Out of that 5 million around 60,000 have abortions. They fought with saying that if the law was put into action that would only lead to the women being put into harm or finding unsafe ways to terminate the pregnancies. The legislatures of Texas are saying that they law needs to be passed because it is for the heath of the women, while the abortion providers are fighting back with saying that it is unnecessary and are just doing it to cut down on costs. The Supreme Court will rule soon if they plan to take the case or not.
Texas Abortion Providers Ask Supreme Court to Reverse Ruling on Clinic

Kim Davis

In Morehead, Kentucky on Tuesday a clerk refused to issue marriage license to gay couples saying it was against her religion. On Thursday Davis will go to court to see if she will be charged a fine or get jail time for her actions. Davis asked that she not be the one to issue same-sex marriage license because "it is a violation of my faith". Davis is going against the constitution that recently passed the right of gay marriage. I can see both sides of this conflict because Davis has the right to religion just as much as gay people have the right to marriage. If she feels so solid in her faith that she cannot will herself to issue marriage licenses to gay people I do not think she has to. However, I understand the frustration among the gay community and its followers, gay marriage is a new right that many people have been waiting on and now they are being denied. I believe that a balance needs to be found between the rights of Americans.
Kentucky clerk ordered to court after refusing to issue gay-marriage licenses

Missouri Transgender Student

A transgender senior in high school asked to be able to use the girls bathroom and locker room and is now being shamed for this. She started to identify as a girl last Febuary and over the summer got permission to use the girl facilities in her school. However, she dropped out of her P.E. class because she felt that she was not wanted in the girls locker room. The students at the school are not taking her request well, and on Monday organized a protest against it. She hopes that this will blow over because she "doesn't want her senior year to be like this". I can see both sides of the situation, on one hand a person just wants to be herself and be able to use what ever restroom she would like, but on the other hand it might make the other girls uncomfortable because it is something so new to them. I think that she should ultimately be able to do what she wants without getting bullied for who she is.

Missouri Teenagers Protest a Transgender Students Use of the Girls Bathroom