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