Prison Labor in America by Ethan D.

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/08/the-not-so-invisible-labor-prisoners-do-in-cities/568537/

This past summer has brought many record-breaking wildfires to California. Among these fires are thousands of incarcerated inmates serving as firefighters. Inmates across the U.S. not only fight fires, but they also serve their time shoveling snow, repairing structures, and cleaning cities. This involuntary act of servitude is known as “Prison Labor”. 

Prison labor is legal due to the writing in the 13th Amendment. It states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime… have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States. This means that if someone is a convicted felon, then they are required to go work when told to even if they are only getting a dollar an hour. In addition, some states aren’t required to pay prisoners for working. This is despised of due to the fact that it is modern day slavery. These people are now standing up and starting to fight for what they believe is right. For example, prisoners in several states including California have began to go on strikes by not showing up to their workstations throughout the day. These strikes aren’t violent, but they get the point across.

Should prisoners be forced to work in life threatening situations such as wildfires and blizzards? Do prisoners need to be paid minimum wage or not at all? What should be changed to prevent prison labor?

U.S./Mexico Trade Deal by Daniel W.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/27/mexican-official-says-nafta-talks-with-us-have-concluded.html

President Donald Trump has recently reached a trade deal with Mexico. On Monday, Trump announced that he will be terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement and that the new accord will be called “United States-Mexico Trade Agreement.” The President has said many times that Nafta was the worst trade deal in history and that it had a bad connotation for the United States. When asked if Canada can still be part of the trade pact, Trump said “We’ll see,” and “We are starting negotiations with Canada pretty much immediately.” The deal is expected to help U.S. farmers, who export most of their products to Mexico and Canada. General Motors and Ford each climbed more than 3% monday in reaction to the trade deal which requires that at least 75% of a car’s parts must come from North America to avoid tariffs. In addition, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit all-time highs Monday after the announcement of the trade pact. According to National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, the deal is going to promote economic growth on both sides of the border and that Trump plans to make trade deals with Japan and the European Union. Will Canada become a part of the trade deal? Who will the agreement benefit the most in the long term? What does this mean for future trade negotiations? How will this effect the presidential election in 2020?

The Passing of John McCain by Peyton O.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/25/obituaries/john-mccain-dead.html

6 term U.S. Senator and Vietnam War Veteran John McCain dies at 81

Former U.S. Navy pilot and heroic prisoner of war John McCain passed away Saturday evening. McCain had been suffering from a brain tumor since July of last year. His journey into U.S. politics began in 1983, when he was elected into the House of Representatives under President Ronald Reagan. He served two terms as a Representative of Arizona before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1987. Although he served as a Republican under Reagan, McCain later moved both left and right despite his party affiliation. He also made the deciding vote last year in the attempt to repeal and replace President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. McCain broke the tie, and voted “no” to repeal the Act, ending his own party’s drive to repeal Obamacare. His decision was highly criticized by President Donald Trump, who fought to have Obamacare repealed. Despite this, McCain stood by his decision, arguing that both political parties needed to work together to find a resolution. Senator McCain also went against his parties’ views on the controversial topic of building a wall along the Mexican border. He criticized the plan for the wall, saying it wasn’t necessary.

Who will replace John McCain as Senator? Will his replacement be conservative or liberal?Will the Republican party take over now that McCain is not there to criticize his own party? How will John McCain’s death affect the fight to repeal Obamacare?

Gaming Turned Deadly by Hannah T.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/us/jacksonville-landing-mass-shooting-madden-tournament.html

On Sunday, August 26, 2018, a shooting occurred at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, FL. In this shooting, three people, including the gunman, lost their lives. The gunman, identified as David Katz, injured eleven more people. Nine of the eleven injured were shot. The motive of the shooter remains unknown.

Florida Governor Rick Scott spoke on the incident, stating that change needs to take place. He also stated that there has to be a solution to all the gun violence. As Mayor Lenny Curry said, “We have faced an occurrence that is all too common.”

Just two days before the shooting at the game tournament, there was another shooting in Jacksonville after a high school football game. This shooting left one dead and two injured.

The state of Florida is having their primary election Tuesday, August 27. Since these shootings, five of the Democratic candidates running for governor have decided to push gun control even harder than they were before, while two Republican candidates cancelled events in which they were going to campaign.

Many people who were at the tournament spoke out about the shooting. One person asked “How long is it going to take for us to get guns off the street?” Another said they weren’t expecting their weekend of playing video games to turn into a mass shooting.

Should gun laws be more strict? Are guns the issue, or are people the issue? Why are shootings happening so often? How can they be stopped?

Confederate Monuments by Daniel E.

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000006064843/silent-sam-monument-north-carolina.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=15&pgtype=sectionfront

Silent Sam has been silenced. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a group of protestors and students have gotten together to take down a Confederate statue that was on the campus. Many students and protestors believed it was a symbol of white supremacy. As least as 250 people were involved in this political movement. The North Carolina's Senate passed bill 22 which reads “Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act of 2015” says that an “object of remembrance located on public property may not be permanently removed… With Confederate monuments and other Confederate memorabilia comes white supremacy and a symbol of hate. Before all of this happened a debate over the controversial symbol was brought back up in 2015 when Dylann Roof, who killed nine African American churchgoers including one member of the South Carolina Senate. That was the spark of people wanting to get rid of the confederate flag and statues and memorabilia around the United States. Many schools have hopped on the bandwagon with people who believe that the confederate flag is considered hate, and have banned the flag at their school and have even went as far as expelling their students for wearing clothes that has it on it. 

Do you believe that it is fine that people are trying to cover up the United States past? Would you be part of this protest? What should we do with these monuments of our past?  How does this make you feel?

Work Cited

https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/HTML/2015-2016/SL2015-170.html

Abolishing I.C.E. by Logan W.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/what-abolish-ice-actually-means/564752/

Ice stands for U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement and as the name implies enforces immigration laws on immigrants coming into our nation. ICE is best known for the detaining and deportation of illegal immigrants. It was created after the terror attacks of 9/11 and are a branch of homeland security. This government agency has been around since 2003, but until recently nobody has had issues with them.

 Disagreements arose when President Trump enforced the zero tolerance immigration policy (allowed to separate families if need be), which was severely disapproved by many democrats and liberals. The most famous is the 2,300 children separated from their families after they attempted to enter the country illegally Soon the term Abolish Ice turned into an actual protest movement. The group’s main moral is that the agency’s deportation of illegal immigrants with no criminal records is inhumane, and that the agency should focus more on drug smuggling and human right abuses. As usual the democrats and republicans have different opinions on getting rid of ICE all together. Democrats have not yet had a expansive conversation about which illegal immigrants should or shouldn't be removed by ICE, putting Republicans at a advantage.

1. Do you agree that we should abolish Ice?
2. Should we reinvent ICE or keep it the same?
3. Do you believe illegal immigration is a serious issue in today's politics?

U.S./Mexico Immigration Policy by Gunner F.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/20/white-house-considering-executive-action-to-prevent-family-separations-at-border.html

Video: http://video.foxnews.com/df84df83-959c-4bbf-8426-f7806f832920

In June of 2018, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that prevents children of illegal immigrants from being separated from their detained families at the border. This came about after nearly 2,300 illegal immigrant children were separated from their families over a thirty-five day period. President Trump does not want to keep families apart, he wants to keep them together. Trump wants to secure our border and continue enforcing his “zero-tolerance” policy. Trump’s zero-tolerance policy enforces the arrest and  prosecution of immigrants illegally crossing the U.S. Border. 

The children of detained families are placed in DHS ran facilities. They remain in these facilities until their parent/guardians are released. Some children are placed in foster homes or with relatives while their parents are out. With Trump’s new executive order, parents will be allowed to stay with their children while in custody. 

With immigration being a big issue today in our nation, it is crucial  that lawmakers take steps in finding a good and fair way to take care of illegal immigrants.  It is good that the president is taking action to prevent the separation of minors from their families, while at the same time enforcing border policies.

Does President Trump’s executive order actually help families? Is he being too hard on illegal immigrants? Should we do anything as a country to help illegals? What steps should lawmakers take with immigration? 

Discrimination Against Women in Washington by Caroline J.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/us/politics/women-harassment-elections.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Video:  https://nyti.ms/2o8eNvc

In Class we have talked about how the demographic of congress does not directly represent the actual population of the people. One of the biggest misrepresentations in Congress is the presence of women. Why are women not represented in Washington? 

The 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote. Legislation is not the issue when it comes the representation of women in politics. The culture in our country is what has to change. Women who run for office often have to deal with sexual harassment, threats, and abuse. 

Kim Weaver ran for office in Iowa. During her campaign she received death threats against not only her but also her family. Posts online were so rampant the German government began to worry about Weaver’s safety, they contacted her concerning her personal security. As a result Kim Weaver decided to drop out of the race. After she did this her opponent responded by saying that the death threats were fabricated.

All politicians have to deal with harassment at some point during their campaign, not only women. No one should feel harassed or unsafe while running for office. How can the American people address and fix the issue of harassment during campaigns?

The Process of a Presidential Pardon by Gabby S.

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17766146/michael-cohen-guilty-plea-paul-manafort-day-explained

This past week has brought an onslaught of criminal charges on former political and personal affiliates of President Trump. Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chair, faced 18 federal charges and was convicted of eight. Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, plead guilty to eight federal crimes. Those crimes include paying off Stormy Daniels at President Trump’s orders.

Many experts have been wondering if President Trump would ever pardon either of them, for fear of collusion affiliations or suspicions. However, it seems that people are getting the situation out of hand too quickly. The pardoning process is much more complicated than Donald Trump giving them a sock and saying, “OK, you’re free now!” For either of the criminals to be even considered for pardoning, They would have to submit a petition of sorts, but only after serving a minimum of about five years in prison. Next would come the tedious process of going through the pardoning committees and Attorney General. All of these people involved in the process can choose to not recommend the applicant for pardoning, but in the end, the president does have the final say.

Should the President have the final say in something so individually unique as federal court cases? Should the pardoning process undergo more review before being given to the president? What about Manafort and Cohen? Should they be pardoned, or not?