Blog Post #13

Riots against police getting out of hand in Baltimore

After the death of Freddie Grey earlier this week, people in the Baltimore area have been rioting over the fact that Grey died of injuries sustained while in the cop car on the way to the police station. Evidence has shown that Grey sustained injuries to the spine while being arrested during a "purge-like" crime spree. He was not properly buckled in the seat while in the cop car, and was given medical attention 30 minutes after he was detained in the car. The injuries to the spine prove to be fatal, and after his funeral, protesters threw rocks and bottles at cop cars, causing several cops to be injured. 

This relates to our class in the fact that this is the people who are supposed to uphold the law, and are not following their own laws that they are required to follow. The author seemed very one sided, that he felt the cops were in the wrong.

Blog Post #12

New Nation Made out of Disputed Land?

Vít Jedlička, self-proposed Libertarian from the Czech Republic, has made his claim in history. His claim to history? He made a nation out of disputed land from the Croatian-Serbian dispute over land. The land left over from the dispute he took as his own, and rightfully dubbed the land "Liberland". Currently the nation has over 200,000 citizenship applications and currently has no taxes. In this nearly 3 sq mile area of a nation, citizens get to decide the taxes they pay, the civil rights they deserve, and property rights. The official website can be located here: http://liberland.org/en/main/. On the website, you can donate to the nation, join in discussions on the forums and apply for citizenship electronically. 

The author didn't really have a side. He/she just stated the facts. As for how this relates to our class, Liberland (if it is ever going to be recognized as a nation) will be the newest nation in the world. It may have allies, and may be a target for big nations just looking for land, although they could have just claimed it when it was unclaimed.

Blog #11

Publicity Gyro copter Stunt Ends in Arrest

Earlier today, a gyro copter landed in the West Garden of the Capitol lawn. This was all a publicity stunt hosted by Doug Hughes in order to send a letter to all 535 members of Congress. When the copter was spotted, it sparked a lock down of nearby government buildings and areas in case there was in fact a bomb on board of the vehicle.

This relates to our class because it shows the man wanting to spread his opinion to every member of congress. The author took the side of the man, saying that he may not have been right in doing so, but felt confident enough to try and pull it off.

Blog Post #10

Clinton Email scandal possible to ruin presidential option 

A couple weeks back, Hillary Clinton was found with official government information and documents on a local email address, not the governmental one she was assigned when she was appointed her government position. After she was found, she had her assistants completely wipe out her home server and every email attached to it. After this was discovered, this may have shot herself in the foot if she plans to run for any future governmental office.

This article relates to our class because it is relevant to congress and the government as a whole. The author seemed very up the middle with his information, and did not pick a side in the matter.

Blog Post #9

Colombian cartels bribed U.S. Agents with women and guns

While our government agencies are working hard in Columbia trying to cut down on the crime and drugs, some of them are taking bribes from the gangs and cartels. Not just money, but also parties with prostitutes and weapons. Many of these scandals went unnoticed, unreported, or were not properly prosecuted. These scandals were happening around the same time as the Secret Service prostitution scandal, and is a major problem for the integrity and the name of our country.

I believe that the author was leaning toward the side of the people, that the agents that took part in the allegations were wrong to do so and should be fired. This topic relates to our class because this is our national government and the agencies that work for it.

Blog #8

Are the gun laws in New Jersey too strict?

24 year-old Steffon Josey-Davis was pulled over two years ago on a New Jersey highway. Steffon said that he was going under the speed limit when he was pulled over. When the officer asked for his license and registration, he reached for the glove compartment to get it. When he opened the compartment, he realized he had left his legally owned pistol that he uses for his job as an armored car security officer. He hands the gun over to the officer, showing him a receipt and credentials that he legally owned the gun. The officer told him that he could come and collect his gun on Monday. When he arrived at the police station, he was then arrested for illegal possession of a fire arm, a second-degree felony in the state of New Jersey. Steffon told the officers that he was expecting the permit to carry the gun later that week, and he had only bought the gun a month earlier. Now he can no longer apply for a job, he was sentenced to 1 year probation after pleading guilty and his entire life is ruined. 

This connects to our class in the fact that it is out 2nd amendment rights to be able to carry a gun. I believe that New Jersey is too strict of a state when it comes to gun control laws. He showed legal ownership over the gun, there was no good reason that he was pulled over in the first place, and he was expecting his carry permit later in the week. I believe that the author of the article was leaning more towards the side of Steffon in the fact that he was arrested unfairly and that his entire career and his life is ruined because of it. 

Blog Post #7

Maybe they had a Little too Much to Drink 

2 Secret Service agents were reassigned after they crashed into a barricade at the White House last week. The reason for the collision? Driving while intoxicated. It appears that the agents attended a party while they were on duty, and no one at the end of the party decided to breathalyze any of the party goers before the left for home. The two agents then got into the car, drove for a little bit before crashing into a gate at the white house. The two are currently under investigation and they're employment may be terminated if they get enough evidence.

The article is related to our class because it has multiple checks and balances in place. Senate had some say, house had some, the president even got some of the action. As for the article, I find the author was straight up the middle, he didn't appear to have a side and just stated all of the information he was supplied with to write the article. 

Blog #6

Bringing the Clinton scandal back into reality

Years after the sex scandal between former president Bill Clinton and his White House secretary Monica Lewensky will now be remembered forever in the presidential portrait collection. When artist Nelson Shanks was assigned to capture president Clinton, he added a secret reference to the scandal. Just to the left of where Clinton is standing, there is a hint of blue next to the shadow. This is referencing Monica, and the shadow is the pressure that Clinton had while in office while also preforming the scandal.

This applies to our course in the fact that it is our former president, and he created one of the biggest scandal in history. As for the authors side, I feel he was sided towards the artist.

Blog Post 5

Obama to veto Keystone Pipeline

After almost 6 years of signing every bill that landed on his office desk, he will be completing his second veto of his political career. Due to the fact that the republican party has both control of the house and the senate, it will be hard for Obama's veto to make a huge impact, due to the fact that 3/4th of both the house and senate will have to vote for the bill for it to be passed. The republican party is currently working on chipping away at the health care reform policy, and are making it slowly and surely.

As for the connection to our class, he is the president, and he makes a huge deal due to the fact that he has so much political power. The author of the article seems very sided toward the republicans, that Obama is just making it a huge deal.

Blog #4

ISIS Becoming a bigger and bigger threat, White House does nothing

ISIS has preformed another beheading, this time on 21 Egyptians on a Jordanian beach. After the execution, it was followed by Egyptian air strikes lead by Jordan. The shocker about this story is that the White House refused to refer to the Egyptians as Christians, but as "Egyptian Citizens". This struck back with a lot of controversy.

This is related to our class because the President is the commander in chief and decides when to go to war, and we have done some effort to help out in Jordan, but we could be doing more. As for the article, I felt that it didn't really have a side, and just stated the facts.

Blog #3

ISIS is becoming a bigger deal every day

ISIS has always been a threat, both to Jordan and the US. After the brutal murder of the Jordanian pilot, tensions have gotten worse. There is frequent gunfire outside of the US Military Base in Jordan, and threats are getting worse. If ISIS were to launch a full attack on the US base, they would need a lot of militants to penetrate the outer wall, and by doing so makes them a bigger target to air strikes.

How this applies to civics, is that our situation over in Iraq and Jordan are because of our president, Barack Obama. As for the position of the author, I believe he didn't have a side, and he just purely stated the facts, and that's what his job is.

Blog Post 2

Ebola help relief is soon to end in Liberia

After the giant Ebola scare in the United States several months ago, the relief plan in Liberia is coming to an end. This was actually announced by the U.S. Defense Official, with plans to end it next month.We have done our work, and infection rates are near zero. The number of people over there will drop from 3,000 to 1,500, and will still drop further after the fact.

AP Gov Post #1

Democrats Block the Construction of the XL Keystone Pipeline

Democrats have successfully blocked the creation of the Keystone XL pipeline. The vote in Senate was 53- 39, with 60 votes to start production of the pipeline. The Democrats stated that they were fed up with Mitch McConnell vote and debate on a contentious issue.

They Keystone pipeline would have produced many jobs, which President Obama has stated before that he would do anything possible to prevent the pipeline from becoming a reality. It was also stated that McConnell announced to both parties that there will be a full fledged debate on the pipeline, with 4 out of the 7 Democrats who voted for the debate have gone against the debate.