Judiciary post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/politics/
The article reflects Obama's urges to have schools maintain use for Transgender students.The Justice Department and the Education Department have made their best efforts in order for students to feel comfortable and safe in their schools and allow them to be able to use these school bathrooms. "no student should ever feel like they are unwelcome at a school or college campus." education secretary John King Jr. guidance offices and other areas specifically advise and explain that they may not restrict students from using the locker rooms and bathrooms. Obama intends and strictly urges schools to continue to follow the policy in those manners, even in response to the recent law being enacted in North Carolina. It also explains that schools that have sex-segregated activities may not keep students from participating if that is the gender they identify by.

This being a tricky subject for both sides, but is shocking the reality of the decisions made by the Appellate courts. In 2016 it amazes me that we are still having controversial issues regarding this problem, If a poll was taken of young people today, the amount of them who would remain neutral or not have a preference on the subject I believe would vastly cover the amount who do. If this policy continues to stay enacted I believe there will be many court of claims court cases in the following years trying to prevent laws like this from being enacted and to argue and try the ones that already were and are. Though the courts have jurisdiction over the recent laws enacted, Obama can still use his power to help make children in these circumstances feel safe.

Signs reflecting North Carolina's recently enacted law

Torture on terrorism, last post

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2872559/Torturing-terror-suspects-moral-responsibility-security-services-saves-innocent-lives-says-former-SAS-man-Andy-McNab.html
The idea of inflicting pain on an individual to the level of someone being tortured, in all circumstances needs to have reasoning behind it fulfilled. This idea of torture, a multilateral idea different nations have struggled with is a very controversial topic and has become a new type of foreign policy. The united states has shown their use of hard power over the years in affairs related to terrorism, especially after September 11th attacks. I believe the policy agenda for both the Republican and democratic party differs when it comes to the use of torture, but are unified due to a cause. Both parties neither support nor condone terrorism and want public policy protecting our country.  In the article I chose a man who formerly endured weeks of torture believes that we need to use it as a means of finding information. That being said, he only condones the torture tactics after the suspect immediately after capture. " We could moan about tactical interrogation or we could moan about people getting blown up on the tube." He looks at it through the point of view that if innocent lives hang in the balance, we should use all means in order to find the information needed and prevent a situation from occurring. His final points in the article state that by the proper use of these methods we can yield the information needed in a timely manner.
This information leads to a tricky topic in my opinion. As discussed in our presentation there are many circumstances where out of fear, suspects that are not terrorists are taken into custody and withheld under the government in order to try to retain information that the person may not even know. For a child who is unlucky enough to be born half way around the world in a country like Kuwait, and be in the wrong place at the wrong time is just enough for him to be interrogated and have torture tactics used on him. For a child still 16 and 17 the effects of these tactics could be detrimental to their mental and physical well-being. Though I condone the use of tactics on known terrorist suspects I believe we as a nation must be very careful who we are preforming these tactics on, and remember the significant effects of doing them (perhaps to somebody who was illegally accused of being a suspect) or not performing them ( and having that person end up being a terrorist suspect).

torture suspects

Method of torture-waterboarding 

Bureaucracy post

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/30/opinion/borger-obama-defeated-by-bureaucracy/

This post mostly involves the issues related to president Obama's policy agenda with the national veterans association in regards to information associated with the organizations trust funds and how he is "staring down the looking hole" of bureaucracy  issues with these associations. The president was very encouraging that he would fix the issues associated with them. There is a very delicate balance between these associations and the president and congress, often referred too as the iron triangle.

I believe for the majority of the time the president has done well with keeping peace between these organizations and congress especially in times that he has experienced divided government. The beginning of the article spoke about Obama's confidence when entering into his presidency, and only mentioned one phrase that could perhaps be taken negatively which was "The government needs to be smarter and better" which many took as simply a challenge Obama insisted on taking. This article also compares and touches on Bill Clinton and his attempts to do so during his presidency and mentions the fact that even though Clinton spent years dedicated to reinventing the government he left office with mixed reviews and which seemed less successful when compared to Obama's legacy. Even though a national poll says that only 2 percent of Americas have trust that their government would know the right thing to do in all situations according to the article. 

Obama signing Legislation

Obama in relation to his bureaucracy conflict

National Association of American Veterans 

The presidency

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/obama-argentina-brussels-attacks/

I chose this article because it is related to the presidency but not directed towards the current election cycle which seems to take up the majority of the media related to the president. Obama; though he may be coming towards the end of his presidency and could be referred to as a lame duck  still took on his powers of not only being the president but the chief executive as well. He reached out and  made a statement related to the most recent ISIS attacks and his opinion on terrorism. "Continue to go after ISIL aggressively until it's removed from Syria and from Iraq and finally destroyed" Obama said. In this statement and article he continues to talk about his plans on defeating ISIL and his goal on terrorism related subjects. Though he believes ISIL is not an immediate threat to the United States he is concerned on a worldly level and is concerned with the rising level of individuals committing themselves to this group and other similar terrorist groups. 

Obama "not so formally" meeting with Castro.

This article also refers to Obama's policy agenda related to the  recent trip to Cuba and speaks how he is the first president for over 20 years. I personally believe that Obama using his inherent powers  has exercised his responsibility in foreign affairs very well and made a good decision stepping out and deciding to go to Cuba. The media had very good coverage, often being referred to as the fourth branch of government.

Obama formally shaking hands with Castro. 

Obama Speaking on foreign affairs

3/26/16

Dan Kildee Michigan 5th district congress man, democratic.
Dan kildee has been representing Michigan 5th district as their congressman since 2013. He is from a town called flint Michigan and is in a good location for his political views. Kildee served as the CEO of a non-profit organization and also served as the Genesse county commisioner and treasurer. He has lived and been dedicated to flint michigan for 36 years. He also was assigned as the the assistant whip by the house Minority whip leader. Even though it was his first year in congress he was successful in anchoring 100 million dollars in federal funds for the towns Flint and Saginaw for repair. He also is a strong advocate for "Make it in America" initiative (a package of bipartisan bills to help promote and create national manufacturing policy). Some of the main political issues Kildee focus' on are, the urbanization and protection of cities, promoting american manufacturing and raising the minimum wage.

Unit 3 blogpost

                                                                                                                                              3/26/16
http://www.progressive.org/news/2016/03/188637/how-grassroots-revolt-against-testing-may-
change-education

 I chose this article for my third blog post because of its relevancy to me for my personal schooling and involving mass media for unit 3. The article first addresses the topic of standardized testing and how people are people are starting to revolt against it. First it addresses the "No child left behind" act, enacted by George bush during his presidency. It then goes on to explain further why parents and students are choosing to revolt against the common education system involving standardized tests.


When I read this article I could only think about my struggles personally with testing and the frustration that usually follows. I believe there are many other ways in which a students intellect can be determined and used other than by having a test to show the results and judge one way of determining intelligence. The people standing up against this issue have a major advantage that people twenty years ago did not have; technology. By the use of the internet and spreading awareness through articles, Facebook pages and even pictures like the ones below powerfully spread the message they are standing for.

2/22/16

                              Joe Biden and why he believed he couldn't win for presidency

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/joe-biden-couldnt-win-2016-race/story?id=34724133

                       Joe Biden announced early in the beginning of the campaigning for presidency that he would not be running for president. He claimed there were many different reasons he did not run for president, one including the recent death of his son Beau, last may.

                               Joe Biden announced early in the campaigning a few specific reasons as to why he would not be running for presidency. Though he admits perhaps he used better ways of practicing progressivism he may of been able to run, he stepped back. For many months he considered and weighed the options of running for presidency and what it would have done for his family; what emotional toll it would  have been on them. Biden also makes another point as he explains his relation to Hillary in the running, he would directly be running against her. He said that he does have a mutual liking for Hilary and would not want to be directly against her. Though he said that some people believed that he did not like Hilary because he expressed his political tolerance towards Republicans, but he later made statements explaining how that was not directed offensively towards Hilary in any way. Biden has one last year to serve in the research and in honor of his son plans to spend it on the initiation of further cancer research.

Joe biden 

Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton

Joe at his son Beau's funeral 

Political tolerance towards republicans