The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria that is commonly known as ISIS is a group that has seized control of land stretching from Northern Syria to Central Iraq. The group officially was started in 2004 as al Qaeda in Iraq before rebranding into ISIS just two years later. The goal of ISIS is to put governing structures in place to rule certain territories and conquer certain groups to gain support for their values and what they want.

This question is then asked. What has the United States done to try and control ISIS? The answer is the United States does not have a real plan of attack on what to do and don’t really know what they should do. The United States has done some minor things but nothing has really been effective. In order to stop ISIS in what they are doing the United States should provide support to the Iraqi and Kurdish forces, form a stronger bond with the American Muslim community, and work closely with Iran in defeating ISIS. That would include passing the nuclear deal with Iran and trying to solve the conflict in Syria.

Sources:

https://www.quora.com/How-did-ISIS-form-When-and-where-did-ISIS-begin

https://localtvktvi.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/s055575922-300.jpg

http://www.wsj.com/video/iraq-isis-sparks-a-middle-east-crisis-explained/74607CBE-0725-4C02-A289-ABA34FEAB516.html

In California Case, Justice Breyer Assails Capital Punishment

This article was about Justice Stephen G. Breyer was unhappy with his colleagues because they decided to not challenge California’s death penalty system. Justice Stephen G. Breyer has found briefs related to California’s death penalty that he calls “unreliable, arbitrary and plagued by unconscionably long days.” Justice gives a criminal case example of the dysfunctional system that is in place at the moment by talking about a man by the name of Richard D. Boyer, who has cited the stress of his long wait on death row after being sentenced for murder in 1984. Justice Breyer has emerged as the court’s leading critic of the current regulations of the death penalty that is in place.

Throughout the article Justice Breyer stressed that the long wait in between death sentences might make people execute themselves which violates the 8^th amendment. Justice Breyer strongly suggested that the precedent that California has at the moment is not the best possible way to handle these issues. Richard D. Boyer had a case back in the 90’s that was rejected, but because of Justice Breyer’s recent complaints and good points the legislative court did not reject the reason for having another case.  I think this article is related to our recent unit because all the details throughout the article are about trying to get a court hearing for the death penalty and our subunit was about all the different types of courts. I think this article is most related to legislative courts. I also think that this is an interesting topic and obviously there are different opinions on what should happen which makes a good debate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/us/politics/supreme-court-stephen-breyer-capital-punishment-california.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FU.S.%20Supreme%20Court&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0

Ted Cruz's K-12 Agenda: Pro-School Choice, Anti-Common Core

This article is about what Ted Cruz plans to do when he is president. He has promised to have the U.S. Department of Education end the common core state standards and he also plans to abolish the federal Education Department bureaucracy.  The article also talks about Cruz’s “k-12 theme” which is his support for charter schools. Article also describes how Cruz introduced the Educational Freedoms Act account which helps support what Cruz wants with private vouchers and common core classes.

Throughout the article quotes from Cruz said that he wanted to end common core regulations which goes along with the federal bureaucracy of the U.S. Department of Education. He also said that education is the country’s biggest civil right issue at the moment, which he said is why he is making that the main focus of his campaign. Cruz also is planning to end appropriations to the U.S. Department of education. I think this fits in well with our unit on bureaucracy because it talks about the bureaucracies of the U.S. Department of Education and federal Education Department. Even though it does fit in well with the lesson I don’t really think Cruz makes sense in what he is saying. He says education is the most important civil issue at this time but then he also wants to eliminate common core classes which in my mind are the most important classes. I think he says he is on both sides of this argument, and will not get committee clearance on this issue, which is not making his “promise” to the country very strong, but in the end the article does fit in well with our unit.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/04/20/ted-cruzs-k-12-agenda-pro-school-choice-anti-common.html

 

Obama issues another round of commuted sentences

This article is about how President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 61 people which brings his total to 248 for all of his years being president. The sentences that have been going through the White House Counsel are for mostly drug violations and things along those lines. This was the first time he had sentences people since December where he sentenced another 95 people, the biggest set he has sentenced at one time. This is drawing so much attention because his total of 248 people sentenced is more than the past 6 presidents combined showing that he isn’t giving a pardon to young people who are making the mistakes. Even with some people not agreeing with how many individuals he has sentenced, he has the inherent powers to be doing this as president.

Throughout the article there are quotes given from Obama saying that if we look past these minor drug offenses that 20 year old kids are making then they will keep doing them in the future and will not be a benefit to society. Obama is saying by taking these issues seriously is going to lead to better hard working and loyal employees in the work force. Also to try and make sure they are making the right decision Obama is offering reprieve to some of the people being sentences to make sure they are convicted of something they actually did. In my opinion this should be done. I completely agree with what Obama is doing and saying. I think his point on if we don’t punish these young individuals for the drug violations that they have committed then it will definitely hurt them in the future. Everything Obama is doing is for the good so he should continue with what he is doing. For example the briefing held on “Life after Clemency” is just one of the positives that are coming from these sentences. I thought this would be a good article to use because it involves the presidency and what one of his recent decisions has been which goes directly into our unit with learning about the president and congress.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/obama-commutes-sentences-221381

Rep. Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania's 5th district

Thompson was elected U.S. representative from Pennsylvania’s 5th district defeating Democrat Mark McCracken 58%-42%. During the 112th congress Thompson became the chairman of the House Agricultural Committee. The district that he serves in is the largest district in Pennsylvania. It is also the least densely populated which fits my description very well with being rural and agricultural. He has served since 2008 when he was first elected as the US representative for Pennsylvania’s 5th congressional District.

I think Thompson would go against the Encrypt Act of 2016. This act is trying to prevent states for banning digital encryption. Since Thompson is an agriculturalist he would want states banning digital encryption. I also think Thompson would want the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act of 2016 to be passed as well. This act is working to privatize certain industries mainly including air traffic control. Privatization is important to a Republican who is also an agriculturalist which would be why he would approve of this act. From what I have learned about Rep. Glenn Thompson I am not sure on what side he would stand on the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015.

This article is about Super Tuesday and it’s importance in the presidential race. The public agenda says that Super Tuesday is likely to live up to its billing with the race being a competitive as it has been up to this point with the first few states already having their polls. The majority of the article is about Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton because they are leading their respective political parties going into super Tuesday. Throughout the article is also gives a little detail about the other candidates but most of the details are about Trump and Clinton.

Super Tuesday is the first day of multiple state voting which is what makes super Tuesday different from all the other voting days. Mass media coverage will give every little detail of every thing that happens on Tuesday night between all the candidates. As of now Trump has received 49% of the Republican votes and Hilary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders in voting by just a small margin. Trump is expected to have a big night because Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are not expecting much from the night which is encouraging for Trump in winning a lot of different interest groups. Although throughout the article they talked about who is winning what political party and who isn’t, they didn’t really talk about the political platforms as much as I thought they would to provide more insight on the topic. In the end I think after reading this I have a better understanding of Super Tuesday and its importance in the political process. I think that this article fits well in the unit with primaries and political parties which we have talked a lot about in the last couple of days. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/super-tuesday-republicans-democrats-vote/ 

This article was about Donald Trump’s win in New Hampshire by capturing multiple groups of voters. Most of the detail in this article was about what groups of people voted for and what certain people wanted. There were a lot of numbers and percentages throughout the article. The article also talked about John Kasich who finished in second.

Trump’s victory in New Hampshire was in large effect to him carrying a wide range of demographic and ideological groups with more than 30% of the vote. He also pretty much eliminated the gender gap by topping the field in both men and women. He also received a lot of votes from voters of 64 years or younger, voters without a college degree, and those who have a college degree but no postgraduate study. Trump also won 6 out of 10 voters who said they were for an outside candidate. There was also an exit poll that was taken that had Trump finishing first and Kasich in second as well. I thought this article was a very informative. I liked the use of statistics to show you exactly what the outcomes were for the voting. This article relates really well with the unit because it is all about polls and the results from them. There is public opinion and actually a lot of vocabulary in the article from our unit.

The article is about how Obama wants to expand background checks and clarify the existing laws that are now in place that have to do with gun laws. Obama is doing this because it is what the people proposed a referendum. They said they wanted the change in the public polls which we have talked about in this unit. Even though we aren’t a direct democracy, Obama still said he would like to listen to what the people are saying and try to please them if he could. The main part of the article is to say that Obama is listening to what the people have to say and what they think about gun laws and he is trying to do is best to bend and fit what they want.

I agree with this article because I think that background checks should be made more strict and for everyone. In this article it says that they don’t want the wrong people having guns for the wrong reason and that’s exactly why I agree with what the people are saying. It is good that people are taking the initiative and telling the government what they want. To me it is a very important issue and it could save lives if Obama goes along with what the majority of the people are telling him. This relates to what we are talking about in class because in the article it gives polls that have percentages of what the people are voting for from both the democratic and republican party’s. To me it only makes sense to do it because the plurality of the votes were to make them stricter. The public polling was something that we talked about a few days ago and I thought that the opinion from the public in this article fit well within the unit.