Monday- We took the class quiz over Australia and got a 10/10. Continued political and issue presentations. First Democratic Debate is tomorrow. Watch for EXTRA CREDIT!
Columbus Day Controversy- Today is Columbus Day. Many Native Americans protest this day, for they believe that it isn't something that should be celebrated for Columbus took much of the Native Americans land and put many of them in slavery, sometimes killing them. Many places, like Seattle and 9 other cities, are now renaming it Indigenous Peoples Day.
Turkey saw a horrific bombing this past weekend, killing many people. The Turkey government is blaming ISIS for the attack.
Russia is attacking ISIS targets in Syria, but we believe that they are targeting the rebels (who we support) since Russia are supporters of Assad.
Presentations (cont.)
Health Care:
Democrats- government should allow universal access to healthcare
Republican- private insurers are preferable to government controlled system
~ Ben Carson: "Obamacare is the worst thing to happen since slavery."
Statistics (from Obama website):
~ More than 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage
~ Many companies rejected people who were really sick since they didn't want to pay for their bills; Obamacare eliminates that
~ Since Affordable Care Act (enacted in 2010), health care prices have risen at slowest rate in nearly 50 years
~ Since 2010, 5.7 million have gained coverage due to ACA. Allows young adults to remain on parent's insurance til age 26.
~ Has strengthened Medicare; 9.4 million seniors have saved a total $15 billion on prescription drugs
Martin O'Malley (Democrat):
Personal Background:
~ Born in D.C. on January 18th, 1963
~ He served 8 years as mayor of Baltimore, Maryland (later became government)
- Child of Brbara and Thomas
Professional Background:
Major Platform Ideas:
~ Supports of Middle Class
~ Wants to crack down on gun violence
~ Supports gay marriage
~ Wants to raise the minimum wage
~ Stricter gun laws
~ Wants to cut down on green house gases
~ Improve public schooling
Polls: Would Martin O'Malley be a good president? (Maryland residents)
- NO (70%)
- YES (14%)
ISIS- A radical Muslim Organization that is trying to take over Syria. Started in 1999, but was formed in 2013 in Iraq. ISI says they have fighters from Germany, France, UK, etc. Gets a lot of money from oil field (U.S. targets the fields). They have many ways to get money like gambling, drug trafficking, prostitution, etc. Is responsible for a lot of bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings. Were originally known as Al Queda in Iraq, but changed to ISIS in 2013 when Al Queda kicked them out. Al Queda is jealous of them in a way (older generation) since there getting a lot of news coverage (ISIS is more of the younger generation that uses social media sites to recruit people) . Want to be the leaders of all Muslims and the Levant (a good chunk of the Middle East). We started bombing them in August 2014. We sent 1,500 military advisers back in 2014 to train people to fight back (program has recently fell through). Many people have criticized Obama for leaving Iraq too early, which allowed ISIS to take over.
Democratic Stance- Doesn't believe we should get into another war; we should avoid a war at every cost what so ever.
Republican Stance- Believes Obama should use more military force of ISIS and that we should fight them on the ground
To fight ISIS, Obama has ordered air strikes.
Wednesday- Short Work Day
Thursday- More presentations.
~Obama will give speech later today that troops will be taken out of Iraq in 2017 instead of 2016; next president will finish the war in Iraq
Carly Fiorina (Republican)-
Personal Background-
~ Born in Texas ion September 6th, 1954
~ Family moved a lot because of father's job; attended 5 different high schools (one in Ghana, Africa)
~ Middle class family
~ Graduated from Charles E. Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina
~ Studies Medieval history and philosplhy at Stanford
~ Decided to become a lawyer like father; enrolled at UCLA School of Law (dropped out after only 1 semester)
~ Mad father- said she wouldn't amount to muc
Professional Background-
~ Carly worked as a teacher in Italy
~ She went to Master of Business Administration in marketing from the Robert H.Smith School of Business from University of Maryland in 1980
~ Joined T&T as a management trainee in 1980
~ slowly rose up at AT&T; first female officer
~ She then became the head of North America's sales
~ Appointed had of Lucent's consumer communications in 1997
~ Joined HP in 1999 as the CEO; first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company
~ She had to resign from the position of CEO in 2005; due to the companies bad dealings (made by Fiorina) that lead them into economic hardships
~ Got into politics during John McCain's presidential campaign
~ Became fundraising chair of the Republican Nation Committee initiative
~ Ran for senate in 2009 for California; was beaten by Barbara Boxer
~ Announced candidacy for the 2016 election in May 2015
~ Is in distant 2nd or 3rd place depending on the poll
Major Ideas-
~ Pro-life
~ Powerful military
~ women's rights
~ stop funding Planned Parenthood
War in Afghanistan- September 11th, 2001 major terrorist attack done by Al Queada which lead to use starting the war on October 7th, 2001.
Democratic Stance- Obama wanted troops out of Afghanistan by 2014, but not it's been extended to 2017.
~ Want to expand NATO forces in Afghanistan
~ Want to stop terrorists funds by financial sanctions
~ Remove US bases in the region
Republican Stance-
~ Want to stand behind the Bush administration; they don't want to leave til the job is done
~ Want to find any weapons they might be making
~ Don't want to negotiate with Al Queada; want complete destruction of terrorism; bring democracy to Afghanistan
Results of War-
~Over 40,000 people have died (not including Pakistanians)
~ 2,326 American service members have been killed in Afghan
~ 22,773 US soldiers have been wounded
~ Osama Bin Laden was killed
At first when war was declared in Afghanistan, most Americans supported it at first because 9/11 had just happened and people were angry. In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq starting that warm, which was extremely unpopular. Many Americans criticize Bush for losing focus and spending billions of dollars on Iraq instead of Afghanistan.
Bush stated in August of 2006: "We won't leave Iraq until the job is done." Was a very unpopular statement. Part of the reason why Obama won in 2008 because people just wanted the war to end.
Jeb Bush (Republican)-
Personal Background-
~ Born on Februruary 11th 1953
~ Father was president of U.S.
~ Were a wealthy family
~ Went to Phillips Academy for high school
~ Married on Februrary 23, 1974 to his wife Columbia (she is a his Hispanic immigrant; he speaks fluent spanish because of it)
Professional Background-
~43rd government of Florida
Major Platform Ideas-
~ Want's to expand gun owner's rights
~ Supports traditional marriage
~ Cancel Iran Nuclear deal and strengthen ties with Israel
~ Believes climate change is a real concern
Ted Cruz (republican)-
Personal Background-
~ Born December 22nd, 1970
~ Has a wife named Heidi and two daughters named Caroline and Catherine
~ Live Houston, Texas
~ His father is a Cuban immigrant (Cubans typically vote republican)
~ He went to Harvard; quit and went to Princeton and grduated than went back to Harvard for law school
Professional Background-
~ Was a law clerk for the chief justice of the United States
~ He work for the Bush presidential campaign in 1999 as an advisor
~ In 2003 he became the solicitor general of Texas
Major Ideas-
~ Has wanted to repeal ObamaCare
~ Celebrates legal immigration; secure borders; need to be deported if here illegally
Friday: More presentations. Big test of Current Events is next week.
Legalization of Marijuana~ Medical marijuana is legal is 24 states and anyone over 21 can smoke it recreation-ally in Alaska, D.C. and Oregon. It's illegal to smoke it in public anywhere. 53% of Americans think it should be legal. In the past 5 years, we have seen an increase for pro-marijuana. In the 1990's, legalizing it was considered completely radical but now a majority of Americans support it. Bill Clinton was the first president back in the 1990's to publicly admit that he had smoke marijuana before. It's becoming more socially acceptable and new research has shown that marijuana might not be as bad as we have originally thought. Many people support it for medical use; very few for recreational use.
Both parties still oppose the recreational use of marijuana party. The Millennials accept it more than other generations. It is illegal in Iowa to use for recreational and medical use.
Democratic Stance- More likely to support medical use
Republican Stance-
Death Penalty- There has been 1,414 executions since 1976. 31 states have the death penalty including Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahona, etc. Iowa and Nebraska are 19 of the states where it isn't legal. 63% say that it should be legal, 37% say it shouldn't. Many people think that the only way to get closure for the victim's family is to have the death penalty. According to one poll, some people are against it because they might be killing an innocent person. They also believe that racism helps determine whether someone should be subjected to the death penalty. Usually when someone's convicted, it can be 10 years before they die because they are trying to repeal in court. The average annual cost of a death row inmate is $175 thousand. The average time that elapes betwen sentence and execution has risen from years in the 1980's- average time in 16.5 years as of right now. There were 35 executions in 2014; lowest number since 1994.
Methods of Execution: includes percents of methods of executions since 1976
Hanging (legal in some states) (0.5%)
Electric Chair (legal in some states) (11%)
Firing Squad (0.5%)
Lethal Injection (most common; 87%)
Furman vs. Georgia (1972)- In this case, the court found the death penalty unconstitutional and grounds of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment
Republicans- are pro-death penalty
Democratics- generally are against it
Ethnicity Percentage of Executions: White 56%, Black 34%, Hispanic 8%, Other 2%. People say that based off these statistics that the court rulings are biased against African Americans.
Around the World: A good percentage of the world doesn't allow it; many other capitalist, democratic countries don't allow it, yet we still do. We're similar to Arab countries who also carries it out.
Comments