"Data" Could Quite Possible Overtake Politics

    This topic caught my eye right when i saw it. It talks about how modern day technology has advanced easily into our everyday lives. Even new computers have been built for the police that scans licence plates and within seconds can tell if that car has been stolen. As these advancements grow to new parts of our lives, do we know what we are truly getting ourselves into? There have recently been algorithms made that could quite possibly get rid of the need for politics. If everyday things can be solved with algorithms why cant government be easier and more efficent too? This "algorithmic regulation" would be able to adapt to certain circumstances. One of the founding fathers of cybernetics described this algorithm as having "ultrastability".

    Article:The rise of data and the death of politics

    

    Discussion Questions: How does the advancing technology make you feel about our government?

    Do you believe that politics will be overcome by a bunch of algorithms?

Shelling of UN School in Gaza by Israeli Forces Calls Attention to Injustices

Israel is an area that was carved out of Palestine after WWII by the US and Britain as a refuge for the Jewish people. However taking land from one nation to give it to another is begging for conflict between said nations.

Map of Palestinian territory and Israeli territory

As you can see in the map above Israel has invaded upon the 1949 armistice line and claimed territory belonging to Palestine. Palestine's response has so far been violent attacking Israel and its citizens with rockets and explosive shells. Israel has therefore retaliated by shelling numerous locations within Palestine prompting more combat between the two. However in what was called "Totally indefensible" by Whitehouse spokesman John Earnest, Israel knowingly bombed a school in Gaza killing 19. Even though it is "Totally indefensible"the Obama administration is continuing to allow Israel to replenish mortar and bombing supplies at a US Arms stockpile. The UN also condemned said actions by Saying "Israel Violated International laws". I chose these articles because while everyone is quick to condemn and say its bad that people were killed no one is willing to take action regarding this conflict.

Articles:

US Condemns Israeli Bombing

UN Condemns Israeli Bombing

Discussion Questions:

Do you think Israel was justified in its attack?

What can be changed to make sure this doesn't happen again?

Do you think Palestine is partially to blame for these attacks?

Can changing legislation around help in this situation or does there need to be military intervention?

How should the US handle this considering Israel is our only ally in the Middle East?

Obama to Congress: Stop Hatin' All the Time

Yesterday, President Obama gave a speech to a packed crowd at the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri telling Congress to "stop being mad all the time... they're mad because I'm doing my job." Obama has exceeded his executive authority to make changes to the Affordable Care Act because Congress doesn't agree with what he's doing. In return, Congress is suing Obama to keep him in constitutional check and hold him accountable for breaking the oath in which he swore to uphold the constitution. The president replies to Congress in his speech yesterday to "stop hatin' all the time."

On a side note, back in 2008 Obama said that checks and balances meant more than Congress "being mad."

Furthermore, there are many questions to be asked about this ongoing controversy between Obama and Congress. 

Articles:

President Obama Scolds Congress: Stop ‘Hatin’ All the Time’

Constitutional law professor on separation of powers: “Stop hatin’ all the time”

Obama urges GOP to 'stop hating all the time'; GOP responds with lawsuit

Questions for Discussion:

• Is Obama going too far using his executive actions or is he doing the right thing under the circumstances of the uncooperative Congress?
• Is Congress' lawsuit the right thing to control Obama and his powers? Should Obama be impeached? Is this all a big political stunt?
• Is Obama's strategy of laughing off the whole thing the right way to approach something this serious? Is he being unprofessional? 

Civil War Crisis In Ukraine

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/03/world/europe/ukraine-tensions/

This article is about the tensions between Ukraine and Russia. The tensions that have been prolonged for quite a while now have now started an all out civil war between the two  countries. What this article also explains is that this whole civil war started because of Russia wanting the Ukraine to be part of Russia. However, the one reason why this cannot be done is because of the Ukrainian people that want to be there own country, keep their freedom, independence and demand to be separated from Russia. Even though it seems that most of Ukraine wants to be their own independent nation, there are people in the Ukraine that have been given the name of Russian separatists, who want to be part of Russia. Along with the civil war going on in Ukraine, the Malaysian Airline that was shot down increase the tensions greatly.

Questions:

•  Should the U.S. supply weapons to the rebels in Ukraine?

  •  Should the U.S. be involved in the civil war in Ukraine?

    • Do you think that Ukraine should be a part of Russia?

 

 

 

 

House approves lawsuit against President Obama

 Recently, House Speaker John Boehner proposed a lawsuit to Congress against President Obama for abusing his executive rights.  This lawsuit passed the House of Representatives this past Wednesday.  I've chosen this current event because like many of you, I noticed the signs and posters outside of the post office in the center of Wolcott and thought that this was a very interesting topic to look into.  This lawsuit passed the House by a vote of 225-201, all Democrats opposing.  Democrats feel as though this lawsuit has been pushed to sway the many Americans into the subject of impeachment for President Obama, although Boehner who is the Republican Representative for the state of Ohio, says otherwise.  He says, "We have no plans to impeach the president".  Many Republicans feel as though the lawsuit was passed to "protect the Constitution" and "keep the president in constitutional check".  They also believe that he abused his power when dealing with the health care situation and that he has used his power to "illegally change the laws".  In the link below, it explains in more detail about different actions President Obama has executed that Republicans believe were done unconstitutionally and without the approval of Congress.
  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/30/house-approves-lawsuit-against-obama-over-alleged-abuse-executive-power/
Question for you:
Do you feel as though this lawsuit was passed to work towards the impeachment of President Obama or to simply keep his executive rights in check?
 

Obama sends troops back to Iraq

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/06/30/obama-sending-300-more-u-s-troops-to-iraq/

This article tells readers about the crisis going on in Iraq.  President Obama has decided to send more troops, about 300, back to Iraq to protect American citizens at embassies especially in Baghdad.  Iraq is a very dangerous place right now as the country is fighting a war against jihadists.  President Obama has even evacuated a few embassies at certain times but he wont give up on trying to help Iraq and its people.


          Questions
Should Obama even be sending troops back into Iraq after we have been there for so long and have not seen a drastic change?

Do you think the US should do more or less to try and help Iraq?

As a whole what do you think of the US and how it is fighting to help so many other countries when it has plenty of its own to deal with?

Highway Trust Fund is Running Out

The federal Highway Trust Fund is close to running out of money. This means that there would be no money to build and maintain highways throughout the country. If the trust does run out, 700,000 jobs will be lost. All current infrastructure projects will also be left unfinished. This issue has caused a lot of conflict in Congress lately. They agree that the trust needs to be restored but they have been disagreeing about how to do so. There are multiple routes they could take to restore the Highway Trust Fund. The first would be to raise the gas tax. In the past, the Highway Trust Fund was paid for by a gas tax. The gas tax has been decreasing every year since 1993 and is 63% lower than it was. This would be the easiest, long term method of securing the trust. There will always be people buying gas, meaning money would always be coming in for the Highway Trust Fund. While this is a direct solution, Republicans refuse to raise the gas tax. The House Republicans, however, want to go with another method called "pension smoothing". It changes the rules for corporate pension funding. It has companies set aside money now to pay for benefits later. This will cause them to report higher taxable profits, which will make them pay more taxes over the 10-year budget window. Those taxes will go to the federal Highway Trust Fund. This method is much more complicated than raising the gas. Senate has decided to push off the issue for a few more days, though the trust is said to run out this Friday (August 1st).

Is "pension smoothing" a good solution for funding our federal Highway Trust Fund?

Do you agree that there are easier methods? If so, what might be some others?

How would you feel about Senate pushing the issue off so close to the trust running out?
MSNBC article