Obamacare under attack!

      One of the many Trump Campaign promises was the repeal of Obamacare. But how feasible is that? Well, the GOP would have to replace it with some system or way of softening the blow. But to 20 Million people on Obamacare, their fate lies within the republican unified government. 

     Repealing Obamacare isn't hard, they know everything to do to get rid of it and now is the time. However, the system of replacing is up in the air. 

The first question is what to do and how to distribute federal subsidies? Should it be age based or tax based?

The second point is the modification of Medicaid. There would most likely be less federal funding. The devil is in the details.

The main issue is that Obamacare is massive and has had time to sit and sink into society. The effects of Obamacare has allowed many poor Americans to have insurance of some kind at the cost of raised premiums of all the insurance outside the government due to the people going to Obamacare. Turning the 20 million people back to the privatized insurance companies could prove difficult a transition. But due to Trumps new found affinity for Obama, the solution could be much more Democratic than expected. 

 

Why Obamacare could be the messiest battle of 2017 http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/08/politics/obamacare-battle-2017/index.html

Pizzagate: I'll have a pepperoni, extra underage.

     Due to the fake news crisis from Facebook, more illegitimate information about the nature of the Democratic Party has been released. During the campaign, Hillary Clinton visited Comet Ping Pong, which is a popular hang out for everyone, including your high ranking democrats. However, news spread that Comet Ping Pong was an establishment for underage human trafficking. 

Dominos on the other hand has started offering salads. Business branch their markets in different ways.

Anyways, this spread fast. "High ranking democrats purchase children sex slaves from pizzeria." Well this brought many alt right 'republicans' out of the woodwork to 'investigate' this establishment, with a large meat lovers pizza extra bacon. 

Of these private eyes, there was Edgar Maddison Welch. Welch, the sleuthy investigator he is, brought his assault rifle and pointed it at an employee. The employee was able to escape and call the police. This began Welchs spree of shooting at random in the building. 

He was subdued by police and questioned on his... tactics for his self investigation. 

Let's just say that Welch didn't pass police academy and was probably stumped when it came to the revolving door, entering the academy. 

Thankfully, no one was hurt, so we can all laugh uncomfortably at the situation, along with the therapist of the employee. 

However, this incident is indicative of a larger issue: Anyone can produce media false or otherwise. It's absolutely dangerous. This tells Americans that before we 'investigate' we must fact check and ask questions and leave our assault weapons at home. 

Here's What We Know About The Alleged "Pizzagate" Gunman 

https://apple.news/AUtpD1aCGTEeoOXNSFZ7oVA

 

These are the big players of 2016.

        Recently, 5 of the worlds greatest leaders convened. However, this group of representatives is coming to an end. Yes, the breakfast club of world leaders are being succeeded or challenged by many incoming forces.

Firstly, David Cameron, former prime minister, resigned post Brexit, due to his countrymen's vote to leave.

Secondly, our own Presidenf Barack Obama is leaving office soon. He's packing his bags, booby-trapping the White House, and collecting all his relics from his home in Nigeria. He is giving up his seat to Business Bigot Donald Trump. 

Thirdly, Angela Merkel is running for her 4th term as German Chancellor. Her popularity has been a number that has raised some questions because of her acceptance of immigrants and open borders but she is wavering at 50%. 

Fourthly, Francois Hollande has announced he will not be running for re-election. This is an odd occurrence for an incumbent president to not seek re-election but Hollande has had low popularity so it might be nice for the country to voluntarily change leadership.

Lastly, Matteo Renzi, Italy's prime minister will not be re-elected. This is primarily due to the large response of 'no' to his call to reform their constitution. Nearly 60% of voters were not feeling that. He plans to stay in office until their next budget is decided.

Unfortunately, Vladimir Putin wasn't able to attend the world leader get-together. But something tells me he wasn't invited in the first place...

World leaders will be rising in power these next few weeks/months. This will set a whole new tone to foreign relations and the way the world will operate. 

The photo that captures 2016's political tsunamis

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/05/politics/end-of-the-old-world-order-photo/index.html

 

Rough 'em up, president elect!

     President elect, Donald Trump, acted in Indiana recently to attempt to get the aircondition company to stay and not take 1,000 jobs to Mexico. In exchange, carrier is receiving 7 mil in financial incentives over the next 10 years from the state of Indiana. Okay. But is that really it? Did the big business just take its cute little 7 mil and just collapse at the first Trump attack. "Oh! You got us! We'll stay in the states!"

Whatever the case, many are praising the president elect for his first big victory. But this system of knuckling under and paying for companies not to leave is setting a bad example for other companies to attempt. For instance, a company could threaten to leave the states and then get paid just to stay directly where they are. Would we be shelling out money at the leisure of desired companies? 

The good news is that right now, is that president elect is just a pseudo-political business man with a can-do attitude. In the future, everything else will be much more official by modifying trade agreements and tax policies. 

 

How Donald Trump got Carrier to stay http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/01/news/companies/donald-trump-carrier-jobs/index.html

Trump Cancels New York Times meeting

According to The NY Times, Trump was supposed to have a small off the record session with The NY Times followed by a larger on the record session. However, due to complications with planning, Trump said that the "terms and conditions of the meeting" were changed last minute. However, the NY Times said that this was the plan the whole time and that they had no intention of doing anything differently. Trump claimed that the prestigious News business is "failing" and don't paint him in a positive light. Because apparently those two go hand in hand? 

Worst part of all, The NY Times had to figure out that their meeting was canceled from Twitter when Donald Trump tweeted that he canceled. 

Trump, next time, just direct message them. 

 

https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/us/politics/donald-trump-transition.amp.html?client=safari

Trump's gonna get to business

In the first 100 days, Donald Trump listed out several actions that will be his first "go-get em's"

These actions include repealing the Trans-Pacific partnership (which is only the first of many things trans that are worried) 

This Obama led legacy project will be replaced by a 'fair bilateral deal'.

In addition, he's looking to cancel environmental restrictions. 

And lastly improve infrastructure. Which is pretty cool.

What wasn't mentioned was the repealing of Obamacare and the deportation force and the 1 trillion on infrastructure.

Funny how all the things requiring congressional support he left out. HM.

Maybe our government is more divided than we think?

 

Donald Trump outlines policy plan for first 100 days http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/21/politics/donald-trump-outlines-policy-plan-for-first-100-days/index.html

Transgender in the ranks

Lance Corporal Aaron Wixson is just one of many transgender Marines looking to identify as a man by the standards of the Pentagon. This will be evident in the attire of Wixson when he arrives at the Marine Corps. ball dressed in the suit or dress because a gender neutral tank top won't cut it. 

Wixson is receiving tremendous support from his superiors and the pentagon. But there are opposing forces with reservations. 

The two main concerns are

1) morale

2) and health care 

The marines responded with something along the lines of "there's little effect and you're dumb."

The cost of the hormone therapy and the surgeries for the transgender marine  population (which isn't too big in the long run) is a small percent set aside for the marines health care. 

As for morale (readiness), little was commented on but was thought to have "minimal impact" because, crazy enough, what organs someone has, is resulting in little consequence. Peculiar. 

As for Wixson, there are hormones and surgeries to go, but with the support from his fellow marine and the pentagon, he will transition from the women's facilities, to the men's.

 A transgender Marine comes out, tests military's new policy

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/19/politics/transgender-military-policy/index.html

Two Political figures were shot down at Hamilton

Vice President elect Mike Pence entered the theater playing Hamilton in New York to a mixture of applause and boo's. Shocker. However, the curtain call was not the end of the show. The cast of Hamilton delivered a speech expressing their concerns on the platform of Pence's election. Considering Hamilton fractures primarily African American actors, there was bound to be a bout of awkwardness. 

Brandon Dixon, playing the character of Aaron Burr, delivered the speech in representation of a cast comprised of people of color, sexualities and genders. 

Lin Manuel Miranda praised the actor in a tweet saying he was very proud.

Unfortunately, President Elect, Donald J Trump did not find this to be respectful to Mike Pence and the physical space of the theater. Trump told the cast to "Apologize!", but this is civil disobedience and it will be heard.

Or will it?

Mike Pence left as the speech began. Awesome. 

 

https://youtu.be/WLPBn997BuA

With one week to go, it is time for Hillary to get out of the spotlight.

      With the FBI further investigation on Hillary Clinton's emails continuing, the Trump campaign is sitting slightly more at ease. Latest polls show Trump up 1%, which is scary but workable. What has been circulating about the email scandal, is that many people have long since decided how to feel about the emails and are not all that affected by this continued investigation. Huma Abedin and her distanced husband, Anthony Weiner, also share the computer that is under investigation.

     I, personally, would be a lot more afraid to check Anthony Weiner's phone than Hillary Clintons. 

And I think a lot of people feel this way. It can be used to fuel already Trump fans, but swaying voters is going to be harder than that. This means that Hillary has to remind all undecideds of Trumps misogyny and hateful remarks. Being a resident of Alabama, I do not get many Hillary Clinton ads, and when I do it's like the first liberal rain of a hot conservative summer. Poetry aside, Hillary has a little work to do this upcoming week. But the big day is approaching! 1 week, 1 week, 1 week! 

Hillary Clinton's challenge: Shift focus back to Trump

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/01/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-election-2016/index.html

 

If you can't do the time...

      50,000 estimated prisoners have now gone on strike because of being treated like slaves in a system of modern day servitude. The Incarcerated workers organizing committee has said that the work done on the inside is neither beneficial to the workers or anyone on the outside. In addition, the IWOC has said that their wages are horrible. 

      However, many of the costs from the jobs are to provide for the jail. At the end of the day, it's because it's prison and not supposed to be luxurious by any means. All the same, this is the largest prison strike in American history and how it happened simultaneously, means there was quite a community and planning going around all this. 

Maybe this will take the forefront of the news or maybe it will go to the back burner. Only time will tell! 

Why US inmates launched a nationwide strike http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/us/us-prisoner-strike/index.html
 

If you can't do the time...

      50,000 estimated prisoners have now gone on strike because of being treated like slaves in a system of modern day servitude. The Incarcerated workers organizing committee has said that the work done on the inside is neither beneficial to the workers or anyone on the outside. In addition, the IWOC has said that their wages are horrible. 

      However, many of the costs from the jobs are to provide for the jail. At the end of the day, it's because it's prison and not supposed to be luxurious by any means. All the same, this is the largest prison strike in American history and how it happened simultaneously, means there was quite a community and planning going around all this. 

Maybe this will take the forefront of the news or maybe it will go to the back burner. Only time will tell! 

The FBI FYI

       FBI director, James Comey has been accused of violating the Hatch Act over informing Congress of there being more Hillary Clinton scandal emails. 

        The Hatch Act was an act created in 1938 that prohibits any federal employee from affecting the outcome of an election (besides voting) because of their advanced knowledge. This is especially troublesome when it is committed while on the job. 

     The Hatch Act has had a lot of change over the years but it has held true. The Hatch Act requires there to be intention to affect the race, and in comey's case, it has to be argued that he is intentionally trying to tip the scales of the race. And in case it wasn't obvious, this just fueled the Trump Train ™ and this prolongs the process. 

The consequences of violation of the Hatch Act can, at worst, end up in termination. It's not a big crime it's just sorta a no-no.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/10/31/politics/what-is-the-hatch-act/index.html?client=safari
 

ISIS hangout going down

       Mosul is slowly going down. But a huge problem is the fact that ISIS is taking families and deserters from neighboring villages and using them as human shields against the oncoming attacks. 232 people have been 'executed' and tens of thousands have been taken so far for the usage of human shields.  

     One of the most hard hit villages is the village of Hammam Al-Alil. Hammam Al-Alil had a population of 23,000 during ISIS rule but now has 60,000 now that the conflict has risen. 

     Honestly, there is a coalition 90,000 against ISIS's 3,000-5,000, unfortunately ISIS has the homefield advantage and Iraqi forces have dedicated many resources to disarming booby traps and bombs, like some terrorist version of home alone. 

ISIS 'executes' 232 near Mosul, takes thousands as human shields, UN says

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/28/middleeast/iraq-mosul-isis/index.html

 

Let's talk about voting hombres

     The Latino vote is substantial and should be respected. There are nearly 27.3 million Latino voters in America which is about 4 million more than 2012. In the CNN article, there are two types of Hispanic voters: The ideologues and the group benefit voters. The ideologue is a Trump supporter and the group benefit voter is for the rolling Hills. The ideologue supports Trump because they believe in hard work being the integral factor for success in America. The group benefits voter received papers to live in America two years prior and has worked hard but still feels that more can be done to protect Latino families. 

      To reach out to the nearly 30 mil Latino voters, Hillary is going door to door and Trump is calling Latino community leaders. Both have proven effective thus far. 

      Pollster Whit Ayers has predicted that Trump would need 40% of the Latino community backing him in order to be a competitor. In 2004, Bush got 44% and won reelection but in 2012, Romney got 27% and did not win election. There's obviously something to this magic percentage.

      The reason an Ideologue is going to possibly vote Trump is because they feel less affected by his rhetoric. The group voters are going to feel very involved with his rhetoric and not see him as an advocate for their community in any way shape or form. 

How the Latino vote could affect the 2016 race http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/27/politics/latino-vote-2016/index.html
 
 

The Misery Senate Race

     Incumbent Roy Blunt goes head to head with challenger Jason Kander in the Missouri senate race. Blunt is a Republican, anti-LGBT, Trump supporter who likes long walks on the beach and lazy Sunday afternoons. Kander is a standard democratic candidate with particularly special rhetoric. Kander released a video of himself blind-folded and reassembling a very scary looking gun while talking about the importance of heavy background checks for gun permits. He did this blind folded. 

 

      In the past 4 years, Missouri has gone Republican. Why is the incumbent sucking then? Being a Trump supporter, this could allow some to be swayed democratically, however, Kanders one ad got a ton of media attention (and free advertising) and a large amount of incumbent propoganda can't always deflate the media. Also, despite going Republican while voting presidentially, Missouri isn't afraid to go democrat with statewide officials. The democratic presidential nominee is seen as "out of town" and "not from round these parts". Besides the oddly framed Deliverence reference, big democrats equal yuck and local democrats are take them or leave them. Kander says that Blunt is a lobbyist lover and Blunt has responded "am not, am not." Kander was not afraid to point out that Blunt's wife is a skilled lobbyist and Blunt side stepped away from her and called her a cab home. Kander presents democratic ideals in a language that conservatives can like. A gun wielding democrat is more trustable than a pen wielding democrat. It also probably doesn't help that Blunts face is unappealing and Kander is kinda pretty. 

     Whatever the case, these gentlemen are up there in their price tag for ads. It's looking to be around 43 mil, which is not shabby. This is a genuine toss up and it was never predicted to be. Just something to ponder! 

 

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/us/politics/senate-race-missouri.html

https://youtu.be/-wqOApBLPio

How to repay the Gay.

     Britain has finally released a blanket pardon for all gay and bisexual men who have sexual offenses. In addition, posthumous gay men have been pardoned in addition as a symbol. The controversy is the concern of whether or not someone might use this as an avenue to remove a sexual offense from their record that is still currently illegal. For instance anyone who has not given consent or is under the age of 16. This proposal has come to be called the "Turing Law" because of Alan Turing, who was the subject of the movie Imitation Game, and who killed himself in 1954.

Opponents to this particular law include some gay men who believe that if they seek this pardon, it is admitting guilt and that their Queen should apologize and not have her subjects asking for forgiveness. 

Truthfully I believe that if there is a way for me to clear my name for applying for jobs or college, I would take it. 

But Gay Pride is on the line, and Britain won't back down.

Thousands of gay men in UK to be pardoned for now-abolished sex offenses

 

Thousands of gay men in UK to be pardoned for now-abolished sex offenses http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/20/europe/gay-pardon-turing-law/index.html

Mosey into Mosul.

     Okay! This is it. The Peshmerga, Iraqis, and Kurdish government (different from the nationalist Kurdish peshmerga) have hit Mosul hard. Nearly 100,000 are involved in this attack and we are right on ISIS's tail. Some even reporting from the tunnels that ISIS uses to escape, food was found still warm when they arrived. 

     Mosul, a beacon of peace and love (from the ISIS standpoint), is using citizens as human shields. However, the offense is offering ways for people to leave Mosul during the attack. 

      Really, the attack is going quite well and ahead of schedule. An issue that was brought up in the debate last night was the lack of the element of surprise on Mosul. Trump claimed that the leaders have left before the attacks even began because it was so obvious that Mosul was under siege. 

I believe that this is not our fight to dictate how it goes. American forceswere  reported as being seen at the front of the attack but we are supporting and not leading this. Under the Obama administration, we took out Osama Bin Laden with surprise and efficiency. It can be done because that was our operation. We are support and we must know how we can best help. 

Mosul: Most intense day of fighting since offensive began http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/20/middleeast/mosul-isis-operation-iraq/index.html
 

Third and final debate.

       We start off this delightful debate with no hand shake and awkward presidential candidates.

First of all, Russian espionage was brought up by Hillary. She claimed that 17 government institutions have confirmed that Russia has intervened with our elections. Trump basically shot that idea down and said that he is, in fact, not buddy-buddy with good ol Vladimir. 

     Taxation policy was the next on the agenda. Trump wants to reign it back and  Hillary wants to tax anyone over 250,000 heavily. With this money, she would create more government programs.

      Immigration was a hot point. Hilary clarified that she does not want open borders but wants 100 days with amnesty packages for immigrants. Trump wants mass deportation and a legitimate wall that... someone will pay for? 

      Sexual misconduct is huge. Trump apparently respects women more than ANYONE. And he shows that respect by grabbing their... attention while speaking to them. Trump obviously loves women, but not in any respectful way.

     A recent event was Trumps stance on the 'rigged' election. However, other things he has claimed that are rigged includes the 2008 presidential election, the Iowa caucus and even the Emmy's. 

      Foreign relations and how to deal with Aleppo and Mosul came up. Trump claimed that Hillary has done nothing with Mosul in 3 months. However, this is not an American endeavor in total. Iraqi soldiers have taken 13 villages around Mosul and America is the backing logistics. This is not on Hillary's head. 

In conclusion, Trump was more collected and professional but still lost this final debate. 

 Source: CNN broadcast of the debate. 

 

It's about as rigged as monopoly.

     So Trump is continuing his whining- Ahem, allegations- about the upcoming election being rigged against him. Okay this is typical Trump but this is a very very dangerous thing. The very basic foundation of our democratic society is that voting is sacred. We try to make it where no one is disenfranchised and everyone has a say. Trump was seeing that his popularity was declining and to rally his supporters, he made them feel disenfranchised. 

     This essentially means that there are two options:

1) If Hillary wins, then her presidency could be seen as illegitimate and some might not actually follow her. This is how civil wars begin. In the U.S. we understand that the winners win and the losers lose. However, if someone cheats, it turns the tables. Even scarier to think about, if someone feels wronged, there is a chance that there could be violence at the polls. 

2) The second outcome is that Trump wins and that, apparently, the Democrats are just bad at causing voter fraud. 

      Naturally, there are flaws with this argument. The polls can be rigged by corrupt officials, but barely as a whole election. For the democrats to really rig the polls they must have unified corruption on every level of the system. The other crux is that there is NO evidence to corruption besides Trump saying "You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it." This, like, baffles me! I've been told my entire schooling career to cite my sources and that is certainly not up to MLA standards. 

     Now the implications of this are sad for the GOP. This just further divides them. Paul Ryan said that he trusts the states not to rig anything. Even Trump's Vice President was like "Nah, It ain't rigged" (I paraphrase) The men and women running the poll stations say they won't rig anything. No one is in agreement. The Republicans aren't sure if they support Trumps claims and, meanwhile, the Democrats can't decide which champagne to have after the inaugural. 

      Lastly, Trump disgraced a long history of accepting the outcome of elections by pre-challenging the election. This is classless and stuck up. But what did we expect from the billionaire? 

  Why Trump's talk of a rigged vote is so dangerous

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/18/politics/donald-trump-rigged-election/index.html

 

Will Iraqi soldiers squash ISIS before America?

      Iraqi soldiers have taken back 13 villages in the outskirts of Mosul (ISIS's hang out), but not without resistance. 50 ISIS militants and 2 Iraqi soldiers have been killed. The main problem has been Al-Absi, where Iraqi soldiers were reported as being surrounded by ISIS. 

Taking Mosul won't be easy. Much like the Home Alone, ISIS militants have constructed booby traps, car bombs and escape tunnels in case of an attack. There are said to be 5,000 ISIS militants there; however, ISIS supporters say that there are 7,000. Fortunately, this is probably as exaggerated as a fishing tale. 94,000 people are involved with the freeing of Mosul from its 2 year ISIS reign. 

Okay and yeah, America has mounted their white steed and is prepared to save the day. The U.S. has worked primarily on logistics with special ops here and there, and that's mainly been the extent of it.

Maybe we're here to help Iraqi soldiers instead of doing it for them. 

Iraqi forces closing in on Mosul for key ISIS battle http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/middleeast/mosul-isis-operation-iraq/index.html
 

The first presidential debate: messy at best?

      So last night was the first presidential debate and NPR and Hillary Clinton ran their fact checkers. Today, we're looking at the biggest blunders, fallacies and worst interruptions of moderator Lester Holt. 

First awesome blunder of the night was when Trump said "You look at what China is doing for country in terms of making our product, they're devaluing their currency and there's nobody in our government to fight then."

Well that's FUNNY. Because Beijing has, over the past few years, been selling off 4 trillion dollars worth of foreign exchange reserves so that their currency will resuscitate itself. This has helped lower the trade deficit with China. We didn't even need anyone in our government for it.

In addition, Trump claimed that he didn't think climate change was a hoax. HOWEVER, at a rally in Hilton Head, Trump called climate change a hoax (not once, but three times!)

"Obama's talking about all of this with global warming and... a lot of it is a hoax. It's a hoax. I mean, it's a moneymaking industry, OK? It's a hoax, a lot of it."

Hillary Clinton claimed that in the 1990's, crime was 40% higher. HOWEVER, violent crime has actually increased 4% between 2014 and 2015. 2015 has marked a generally low crime rate for America but it's not perfect. 

Despite the fact that Trump told America to check out his Fact Checker on his website that does not exist, there were not as many things that were blatantly wrong as I thought there would be.

 

Hillary has taken the lead on the debates but there are still battles to be won.

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/26/495115346/fact-check-first-presidential-debate

Serious bombings rain on Aleppo.

     Over the past couple days, Aleppo has had serious bombings rain down on the city. The city is a madhouse. This has been one of the first attacks after the short US-Russia ceasefire. Mainly because Russia couldn't keep its Syrian attack dogs down. 

Okay okay, not really. Last weekend, the US struck a Syrian outpost and the US apologized because they meant to attack ISIS. The US promptly replied "my bad" to Russia, to tell Syria. So, we're truly occupying the moral high ground. 

Around 100 have been killed and 300 injured. Many more are dying because there are so few doctors in Aleppo right now. A wave of depression has fallen over Aleppo. It will be important to see who comes out on top once all is said and done. 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/middleeast/aleppo-syria-bombing-aid/index.html

Yahoo! is essentially a Senior in highschool.

     Yep. Yahoo has lost all care. Nearly 500 million Yahoo accounts have been hacked and Yahoo has been freakishly sluggish in getting to the bottom of this. The hack occurred back in 2014 but was confirmed this past August after about 200 million usernames, dates of birth, and jumbled passwords were sold by a hacker of the name "Peace". Even after the report was confirmed, it was this past Thursday that Yahoo made any sort of comment about changing passwords for any safety whatsoever. Was someone just on vacation or something? In 48 states, if there is a breach of someone's account, the company has to inform their users pretty quick so they can change their passwords, but these laws have been bipassed because Yahoo has only described the hack to have happened "late 2014". This sort of ambiguity is how teenagers lie to their parents. (i.e, "I got home 'around curfew'.") 

Can you hear me now? This is what Yahoo is hearing from Verizon. Yahoo was recently beginning the process of being bought by Verizon which would totally explain the sluggishness. While there is no official reason, the longer the delay, the more paychecks everyone gets. This predicament with the hacker shall postpone this sale so that the Yahoo executives may use up the last of their paid vacation and finish up the 18th round of golf. 

Yahoo confirms massive hack of 500 million accounts - CBS News https://apple.news/Ae35zlE8lTNKtvNzN3-CJww
 

The Crux of the Crutcher Case; correspondents can't collaborate.

     Okay, so 5 days ago, Terrence Crutcher was shot after his car was found abandoned in the middle of the road. And yes, he was black. But did he have a gun? No, turns out, he did not. 

Whatever the case-- There are 5 points of dissension in this case.

1) The videos show Crutcher being subsersivient and had his hands up prior to his death. But was he actually following all commands? People are skeptical he followed all orders given.

2) PCP was found in his car so the question of whether or not he was high is definantly on the table.

3) Was Crutchers car window open or closed? Fungshui aside, Crutcher was shot because he was said to have been reaching in his car for something.

4) Armed or unarmed? Crutcher was thought to have had a weapon by the police officer because of his reaching into his car. However, no weapon was found. Was it too late to aggressively reach for his license and registration? 

5) Crutcher was described as a "bad dude" and did this affect the police officers decision to fire? Honestly, if this seriously affected the officers decision, then we should be talking to our policemen and women about the dangers of peer pressure because we didn't have enough of it in high school.

All in all, this case is up in the air.

 

 5 discrepancies in Tulsa police shooting http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/21/us/terence-crutcher-police-shooting-point-counterpoint/index.html

NYC bombing: No clue yet

     29 injured and almost no clue about who is responsible. All that is known is that there were multiple bombs on different streets of New York and New Jersey. One of which, a pressure cooker bomb linked to a phone, did not detonate. Authorities believe the men who delivered these bombs had a connection, but do not know how. This is believed because both the NJ and the NYC have similar structure in the way they were assembled, with timers and phones. Luckily, none were injured with the NJ bomb because of the lack of people around. 

 

Blast near Marine Corps race in New Jersey probed as possible terror act http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/17/us/nj-explosive-trash-can/index.html

Family reunions must be awkward...

An Ohio grandma and partner in crime were arrested recently for:

 a) DUI

 b) endangering a child

 c) being genuinely dumb

 

      Okay, I adlibbed the last one, but truly, this is a rough story to tell. Essentially, Grandmother Rhonda Pasek was overdosing herself on heroin and her driver was taking her to the hospital while weaving through traffic. Naturally, as every good babysitter would know, the driver, James Acord, took the toddler with them. When the car was pulled over, Acord told the officer that he was taking Pasek to the hospital, to whICH HE PASSED OUT FROM OVERDOSING. Meanwhile, the boy in back, sat quietly, assessing his role models. Luckily for Pasek and Acord, the officers had Narcan, which is opiate reversing chemical. This saved the pairs lives. Pasek was given a $280 fine and 180 days in prison, while Acord was given 360 days in prison and a $475 fine. The boy will now live with his Aunt and uncle until grandma is out of jail or grandma gets her act straight. This boy has been playing musical chairs with family ever since his parents were deemed unable to raise him properly. While the guardian bar is set pretty low, let's hope the great aunt and uncle can excel with the boy. All of this could have been avoided, but it goes to show the perils of heroin. 

Grandmother in heroin photo gets 180 days in jail http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/15/health/heroin-photo-woman-court/index.html

Let's tackle each other safely

New research towards football and safety has occurred recently. The NFL has given $100 million dollars to research for curing concussion related injuries and preventing concussion related injuries. The NFL says that safety is a number one priority, but if their entire business is gladiator-like attacks and tackles, then their safety seems sort of iffy. However, this aside, Commissioner Roger Goodell says that, while they're not scientists, they still believe that better protecting helmets and better practices within the sport will drastically increase safety. Many law suits over long lasting effects of concussions have been brought upon the NFL and many settlements have been made. This new effort will intensely support an end to suffering and payouts from the NFL. 

 

NFL to launch new $100 million concussion initiatives to improve player safety - The Washington Post https://apple.news/AaY-PmqJfT-iM0X09O9YeLg

Kaepernick going down?

Colin Kaepernick for the past several games, in the NFL as a quarterback for the 49ers, has taken a knee during the star spangled banner to protest the oppression of African Americans. However, tons of outrage have come out of this as a sign of disrespect towards the anthem. Because if there's one thing more important to Americans than football, it's America. 

But, if I recall correctly, there was this whole first amendment that allowed free speech and acts of free speech. Like, this isn't even threatening. It's considered a threat to burn an American flag to some. But this quarterback literally kneeled in subservience rather than the "black lives matter" defiant fist in the air, just to be less threatening. If he was any less threatening, Disney would give him a show. 

So what's the beef? 

People are getting tired of caring for black people. Even little Wayne says "I thought this whole racism thing was over".

Of course, people aren't actually saying this (minus Mr. Wayne), they're just more offended.

The daily caller called him a coward and an "uneducated idiot". Redundancy aside, people are real upset. Maybe Kaepernick just decided to mock Hillary and fall too?

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2016/09/colin_kaepernick_s_protest_is_working.html?client=safari
 

Hillary Clinton has the second collapse this weekend (pun intended)

     How long does she have, Doctor? Maybe another couple decades. Definantly not able to take office.

This is the logic of the Trump administration. Yesterday, Hillary Clinton visited the 9/11 memorial sight and, due to heat and exhaustion, stumbled while going to her car. Doctors say she has been diagnosed with pneumonia. Which, as we all know, has a 100% rapid mortality rate (according to Trump). Over the course of the campaign, allegations of Hillary and her failing health has been the GOP back burner detail for why Trump should be president. This only fueled the flames to these claims. Clinton has been able to disprove these allegations by performing menial dumb tasks like breaking a pencil or stretching and extending her middle finger to show she's perfectly healthy. But now, the world is losing it.

Abstract: This is such a huge excuse to not elect Hillary. Donald is 70 and has a legitimate hair piece. 8 years ago we almost elected John McCain. 

What these candidates have in common is old age. Old age means that health will be a factor but as long as senility is off the table, I personally find it to be fine. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served 3 terms mind you, needed a wheelchair nearer the end of his presidency. However, he kept this a secret so that his countrymen wouldn't see him being weak. We've had a serious history with having sick and crippled presidents and that's okay. 

Even then, it's pneumonia. This is not the 1800's where everyone who has pneumonia dies because the doctor is a half a mile up the road and it's snowing.

 No. That's not a thing. 

Our elected officials are humans who get sick however, if they're able to perform their job, then by all means, lead away. 

Conclusion: This is dumb. 

This is an image of moments before the fall.

 http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/11/politics/hillary-clinton-health-2016-election/index.html

Can't delete that

Hillary Clinton finally said what we're all thinking but won't say because tumblr message boards has it covered- "over half of trump supporters are deplorables." 

Okay, Hill, yeah there's an argument to be made. 

But she didn't stop there saying that these "deplorables" include sexists, racists, homophobes, xenophobes, islamaphobes and the like. She prefaced it by saying that she was going to be "grossly generalistic" in calling out the bigotry in the trump campaign. But she continued to say that this half of trump supporters are "irredeemable" and "not America". I must reiterate, there's an argument to be made, just not be a presidential candidate. Trump took this insult in stride and ran to go tell mom and dad what Hillary did saying "Wow, Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of amazing hard working people. I think it will cost her at the polls!" Meanwhile, Trump doesn't work about cost because he knows he has enough money to cover it. Trumps running mate Mike Pence said that these Americans deserve Hillarys' respect. Hillary tactfully retracted her statement and apologized for it.

But one final jab from the trump campaign stung right before the situation blew over with Trump encouraging Americans to fight back with a "contribution of 100$,65$,50$,25,15$ or even 5$ to elect Donald Trump to the White House."

It's wrong to generalize Americans and call them deplorables and say that a valid political opponent is just an avenue for bigotry. However, that's the most deplorable thing of all. Trump and trickle up system just to get more influence. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-basket-of-deplorables/

 

Brock Turner

       What the hell? Brock Turner was released after 3 months in jail. Meanwhile, in New York you can get 3 months for loitering. Yeah. That makes sense. Brock Turner was realeased because of a technicality because of his age. He was brought up on charges of assault and sexual assault and was found guilty of all 3 of them. He was able to get out because judge Persky found that jail would be bad for a kid his age (he's 21). When the crime was committed, he was 20 and he was intoxicated. In addition, Turners father claimed that his son's sentence shouldn't be so bad for only "20 minutes of action." The victim found herself in a hospital with stitches and dried blood on her forehead. Her underwear was missing. She was found in an alley by two men while Turner was grinding on her. The two men drove Turner away.

Turner left the jail and drove away, a new-found registered sex offender. 

This was a tragic case and the victim has been void of justice. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/us/brock-turner-release-jail/index.html

It was a teenie weenie modest Burkini

      France has recently had some infighting over the Burkini. A Burkini is a modest outfit for Islamic women to swim in, however, 2/3 of the coastal mayors in France have ignored the court decision to not ban the Burkini. These mayors, in light of recent terror attacks, are standing up to this Burkini and holding their bans. Because pride for your country usually manifests itself in bans for sensible swim-wear for Islamic women. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/28/french-mayors-burkini-ban-court-ruling
 

Humpty Trumpty sat on a wall...

     New BFF's, Donald Trump and Peña Nieto (Mexican President), had a delightful chat today about their blossoming friendship and about the wall they're going to build. Trump wanted to reel in undecided voters while keeping true to his devout disciples- oh sorry! Voters. This resulted in a two-faced, racist speech directly after getting off the playground with Nieto. Donald claimed that this meeting resulted in "a big, fat, beautiful wall that Mexico will pay for". However, this is about as honest as Vladimir Putin's explanation for how his opponents mysteriously die. Nieto stated that Mexico had no intention of paying for the wall. This is not two friends arguing over the bill for lunch-- these are two unpopular political punks who are fighting to gain some ground amongst their people. 

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/09/how_trump_made_a_fool_out_of_mexico.html?client=safari
 

Epinefriends for forever

     EpiPen is the one thing in the world that doesn't change. While politics rages on, bathrooms are debated, and kardashians make bad life choices, EpiPen is the one thing that won't change. Or will it? EpiPen increased their price 600% so now a pack of two pens cost $600 (instead of $100). So why this extortionist change? Mylan bought EpiPen and decided that a profit needed to generate from this life-saving drug. Stopping to think about it for a moment, it's an interesting concept. This extra 500% will go to helping other drug advancements and drug studies. 

Or will it? Over the past few years, Mylan has had executives give themselves some serious raises. The FDA is looking into this, but will continue their work once all the executives get back from the Bahamas. 

However, whatever the case, it's still far too much for most families, considering an EpiPen expires faster than milk. (Well, 6 months). Mylan, embarrassed, released a generic version for $300 instead. It's kind of like when the bully asks to either give you a wedgie or you give them your lunch money. You're going to give them your lunch money, because it just sucks less. Opponents are still arguing that the price is still outrageous. 

Maybe we're not all Epinefriends, after all. 

 

http://theskimm.com/2016/08/29/skimm-for-august-30th-3?jumpto=quote-of-the-day&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=emailshare via @theSkimm

Rhetoric and High-minded speech for the first time this election!

Mark your calendars, everyone, for the first time in the 2016 presidential election, a candidate has decided to use their inside voice and talk to their audience about how their opponent is lesser than themselves! This is bizarre! Hillary Clinton has finally delivered on the, in my opinion, most hard hitting speech concerning Trump. "From the start, Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia." Clinton said. "He is taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over the Republican Party." She said (practically with a finger snap). This sort of calm calculated debunking of the opponents rhetoric is exactly what I (and I would hope others) have been waiting for in this election. Is rational thought and intellectual debate our October surprise? illary also compared Trumps campaign to an alt-right movement. Wait. What's an alt-right movement? It's essentially an online chat board for young white guys who think they're super better than everyone and probably drive nice cars. Imagine your highschool jocks and add racism, anti-semitism, sexism and a hint of bluntness. Trump claims this is not his campaign while the democrats think: well... If the shoe fits. Meanwhile, on the TrumpyRight side, Trump says that his campaign is for Americans who were "left behind". Those inner city African Americans who were forgotten by the democrats, are Trump's supporters (apparently). Whatever the case may be, Clinton seriously made some headway and set the tone for the rest of the election! 

 

Clinton aims to reframe 2016 debate

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/26/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-alt-right/index.html

Gaziantep bombing and a dark time for Turkey

    At a wedding at Gazianep in southern turkey, a child bomber between the ages of 12 and 14 attacked a wedding in which there were 50 casualties and half were children. Mothers sobbed as their children were lowered into graves including Mirgin Gurbuz. Mirdin was forced into a temporarily unmarked grave because of the sheer amount of casualties. Turkey officials are confident that this was an ISIS attack due to the amount of horror and attention it brought. In addition, the victimized Kurd's family had a long withstanding hatred for ISIS. Syrian refugees flee to Turkey due to the wars and this makes them excellent targets for ISIS attacks.


 http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/europe/turkey-wedding-blast-gaziantep/index.html

Sorry, Green&Libertarians, 3 is a crowd

      We're all fed up with Hillary and Trump! So are there really any other options? Well we have the Green Party's Jill Stein and the Libertarian party's Gary Johnson. These two are the well settled and decently attractive candidates that all the Republican Partisans have their mid-life crisis for. When has any third party ever been truly successful though in recent history? Because of record low favorability among our two main candidates, Stein and Johnson could make some impact on the election as long as a few things happen.

1. Trump will remain Trump. Trump has informed everyone that he doesn't want to change and that is scarier than seeing a spider in your room and then immediately losing track of it. This sort of mentality turns the Republican Partisans away because they know they will have less influence. 
2. People believing that Clinton will win the election will allow Republicans to diffuse the whole trump mistake much easier and will lessen fears of Trump winning.
3. Republicans and others must begin campaigning against Trump so that the Trump supporters will fragment. 
4. The 3rd parties need to step up their game by holding events and rising in the polls like madmen. 

     With the clock ticking, slow and steady won't win this race. Even then, it is extremely unlikely for any of these third parties to rise to such prominence. The best outcome to expect is a fragmentation of the Trump campaign so that somebody with a more level head and better hair can secure the victory.

 http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/17/opinions/third-party-chances-brown/index.html

Extreme Vetting-- Like the ACT but with Liberty and a mean teacher

     No, extreme vetting is not a competition to see who can shave a poodle quickest. Donald Trump's recent terror plan has been hopeful at best. Trump, in an interview, proposes that we should have a vetting process where we test our immigrants on an ideological level to see if their beliefs match up with ours. This was first practiced in the Cold War where there was ideological test screening, so why can it not work with radicals?
      While this seems dumb, because of how easy it may be to circumvent this test by cheating off your neighbor, a social media scan for terrorist activity is encouraged by Trump. Trump claims that groups like Isis have an intense presence on social media and tracking that digital footprint to immigrant applicants can protect Americans from radicalized terrorists. Even with current U.S. residents, Trump said that he would "throw out" someone with radical ideology.

http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/08/18/trump-extreme-vetting-orlando-shooters-dad-should-be-thrown-out

Complicated Potty Breaks!

     The John, the throne, the Oval Office, whatever you call it, it's sort of an issue. In a recent altercation, Federal judge from Texas barred the Obama administration from making a decision about transgendered bathrooms. More specifically, for students. The Obama administration stated that Title IX, which protects students going to federal schools from sexual discrimination, includes gender identity. Keeping with the theme of Obama's presidency, the guidance on transgender bathrooms is to have a gender neutral bathroom in addition.
   To tackle the discrimination, it went to court and was ruled that essentially Title IX was irrelevant and that there was no discrimination. However, Attorney General Loretta Lynch is not the one standing next to the man by the urinal. LGBT activists were saddened by the results of the courts ruling.

 http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/politics/transgender-school-bathroom-policy/index.html

The Lochte Ness Monster: A story of exaggeration

      Another way for the rest of the world to not like the United States, Ryan Lochte, Olympic gold medalist, recently speaks on his time in Rio and states that he was robbed at a local gas station. This, of course, makes Rio look even worse and this is coming from a place where there was feces in the water. So, the bar was low. But what really happened? Early on August 14th, Lochte was drunk and was reported to have been vandalizing the gas station and harassing the security guard. But he says that he was held at gun point and robbed. Trust the witnesses and security guards on duty who confronted the hooligans or the intoxicated jock? Hm, toughie!

     However, with a big gulp, Lochte swallowed his pride and apologized multiple times and even was reported saying that he regretted "not being more careful and candid" in a post on instagram. Unfortunately, apologizing and having your tail between your legs is more for new parents and this is Brazil. No punishment has been found yet but Lochte is suffering already because Speedo, Polo Ralph Lauren and Airweave have run away faster than a certain Jamaican Olympian we know. Whatever the outcome may be, it won't be all medals and swimming pools for Ryan Lochte.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/20/sport/us-olympics-swimmers-reported-robbery-future/

In Some-Unspecific-Celestial-Higher-Being We Trust

Ranking Religious Devotion: Mississippi Wins Something For the First Time

Well we tied with them. 

      Hello from Alabama, I am writing from the buckle of the bible belt. Ah, yes. Homophobia, Chick-fil-A closed on Sunday and cookouts 4 Jesus Wednesday nights, that's home. Another phenomenal interactive tool from the Pew Research Center shows how religious your state is! However, I could have told you that Alabama was religious after my grandma found her favorite snack in the pantry (Veggie straws) and said "Praise the Lord". 

      And Yes, we weren't the only most religious, we tied for first with Mississippi. I should mention that we have the saying "thank god for Mississippi" whenever a national statistic comes out and research says that Alabama is not the most obese (i.e. thank god for Mississippi for making us look good). 

      New England proved itself to be less religiously devout than the South. If you've ever ridden the subway in NYC than you would think there's no God there as well. Alabama statistics show that 51% of people attend church weekly and 82% of people believe in God without doubt. I don't know what happened to that 31% but that's none of my business. But how do we go about actually measuring devotion? Do particularly devote people carry water bottles full of wine? Americans were considered highly religious if they participated or subscribed to 2 out of these 4 ideals below!

• Is religion important to you?
• Do you pray daily?
• Do you attend church at least weekly?
• Do you believe in God with absolute certainty?

     After asking myself these questions, I deduced that I am as religious as a toad. But what does this have to do with politics? Well, what doesn't it have to do with politics. While most of the founding fathers were Deist, much of our government is based on religious qualities. Marriage was first a religious endeavor. This is why gay rights was such an issue with the south because it flabbergasted the south's idea of a christian marriage. While there is Civil Union, it is still extremely difficult to get a marriage license in the south for two men or two women. Political Scientists must watch religion because these religious politicians will often clump together and form a coalition to appeal to religious voters. The morality of a government is highly driven by religious platforms. 

Read more about religious states and find your religious standing!

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/29/how-religious-is-your-state/?state=alabama

Family Values and The Interview

What are our politicians saying again? Where do I truly stand? 

     How about some background? I am a senior in high school and am delving into my AP class in which we are encouraged to blog and share our thoughts and curriculum and general teenage angst. I began this class to understand a bit more about our government and feel frustrated about the upcoming 2016 election. While I do not need a grade in a class to feel the frustration, I would like to be knowledgeably befuddled by our great leaders and can intelligently say that we're all doomed. I will link a site on how to make a DIY bomb-shelter in a few posts. Hermit life isn't that bad?


     

So far in my class, we've had two different quizzes about typology and general opinion to find out footing. (I'll link them below). I was classified as the young outsider. I'm a social liberal and feel generally let down by our government. We are sort of the white crayon of the political coloring book because of our disinterest in overseas affairs. I feel the war to be not our problem. I'm okay with passive isolationism. However, I won't lie, i'm still forming my own opinions. Take the quiz for yourself and figure out where you fit!
      The recent news quiz was fairly easy. Do you know who this is? It's Martin Luther King, Jr. and no its not the Islamic Malcolm X. And thanks to the controversial movie, The Interview starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, i'm even more aware of the fact that Kim Jong-un being the leader of North Korea. Link is below!
      Yesterday we had these pictures laid out all over these two tables and we had to decide whether or not a picture was political and we basically deduced that all of the pictures could be considered political (down to a picture of a racially ambiguous family). Even a backyard was deemed political, because it painted a picture of family values which has been a phrase that can gussy up a politicians image. No gay marriage because family values. *Wild Applause* 

  http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/the-news-iq-quiz/ (General news quiz)

http://www.people-press.org/quiz/political-typology/group/bd324384 (Typology quiz)