RE: The Death Penalty

I really enjoyed reading about my classmate Alia’s point of view on the death penalty in America. I completely agree with her that the death penalty is immoral, and that killing murders makes us no different than them. However, when she stated that there have been cases where defendant has been wrongly convicted of a crime, and I think her argument would have been strengthened by also mentioning a few specific cases when this occurred. Also, I feel the addition of a statistic showing how many in-mates are killed per year by the death penalty would stimulate more emotion from readers. Overall, I think that Alia made a strong argument against the use of the death penalty. I also really liked her use of Gandhi’s quote!

Twitter users vs. Trump

As we have seen in the past 185 days he has been in office, President Trump loves to tweet. All. The. Time. However, as he has been receiving political backlash, the President has been blocking those on Twitter who have tweeted negative comments about him. As a response, a group of Twitter users who have been blocked by the President, are suing him, arguing that he cannot bar people from engaging with his account just because they express opinions he doesn’t like.

I completely agree that Trump does not have the right to block citizens on Twitter. It seems that President Trump has chosen Twitter to be his primary mode of communication with the public, and that he uses his account to communicate news and information to citizens. Because Trump is constantly tweeting, his account has become like a public forum. I believe that the President is being too sensitive about comments being made on Twitter, and if he doesn’t like the feedback, then he shouldn’t use Twitter so much. The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights is the freedom of speech, and I believe that Trump blocking people on Twitter is a violation of our right to voice our opinions, whether the President agrees with them or not. I also disagree with arguments that Trump can block people because he uses his personal account. The President chooses to use his personal Twitter and not the POTUS account.

I am interested to hear other thoughts and opinions!

Works Cited

Savage, Charlie. "Twitter Users Blocked by Trump File Constitutional Lawsuit." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 July 2017. Web. 24 July 2017. <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/us/politics/trump-twitter-users-lawsuit.html>.

RE: Abortion

I really enjoyed reading about Caitlin’s opinion on the controversial topic of abortion. I think she made a strong argument for legalizing abortions for exceptional circumstances. I completely agree with Caitlin that aborting a fetus should be legal if the fetus was created through an act of rape, or the fetus is harming the mother. However, I feel allowing abortions to be legal if the fetus was conceived through rape comes with some problems. I’m not sure how a woman would be able to prove that she was raped, and that clause might allow other women to lie and say they were raped in order to have an abortion. I’m curious if she has any solutions/ideas to solve this issue. I feel that abortion is currently one of the most debated topics in government, and will continue to be that way in the future.

Beware online "filter bubbles"

In his TED talk, Eli Pariser described a “filter bubble” as, “your own personal, unique universe of information that you live in online.” I believe that filter bubbles are a huge problem, because the companies who are collecting data about our internet usage are now becoming the “gatekeepers” of the content that we see online. Based on the websites we visit, what we Google, or what we like on Facebook, the internet is becoming increasingly more personalized to show us what it thinks we want to see. We are now losing control of the information and news stories that we see online, and we are losing a sense of mainstream media. Everyone’s screens are personalized now, but it is an algorithm that is choosing our news for us.

While filter bubbles might seem helpful because you are being shown news that is based off your internet data, they are actually dangerous because you don’t have control over what you see on your screen, so you have no idea what information has been edited out. Filter bubbles can cause users to have significantly less contact with contradicting viewpoints, causing the user to become intellectually isolated. Also, Filter bubbles do not accurately represent what is going on around the world, and don’t allow internet users to be exposed to opinions that are different than their own.
I believe that companies that are using filter bubbles, need to give us some control, so that we can decide what gets through and what doesn’t. The internet was created to introduce us to new ideas and new people, not to leave us all isolated from one another.

Works Cited

Beware online "filter bubbles"". Perf. Eli Pariser. Ted.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 23 July 2017. <https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles/up-next>.

The Law Won't Stop Donald Trump

As FBI director Robert Mueller starts his investigation into Donald Trump’s Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer to discuss dirt on Hillary Clinton, many are wondering if Trump will use the power of a presidential pardon to force prosecutors to stop the investigation. Ryan Reilly, a Huffington Post Senior Justice Reporter, argues that the only thing stopping President Trump from pardoning his family members or himself, is the likelihood of political backlash. Reilly also claimed that, “the Russian probe has already had an effect on his political standing,” and a preemptive pardon would spark criticism and cause many people to jump to the conclusion that whoever received the pardon committed a crime. Earlier this year in March, Trump even proclaimed that pleading the Fifth amendment was an admission of guilt, stating, “if you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

Even though there has been no public indication that President Trump is actually considering preemptively pardoning his son, Donald Trump Jr., or his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, The Washington Post recently reported that Trump had discussions with his aides about how presidential pardons work. As indicated in his article’s title, Reilly argues that the law can’t stop Donald Trump from providing a presidential pardon for himself, his family, or his campaign staff, but political repercussions might.

Ryan Reilly’s intended audience for this article is American citizens. There has been a lot of news surrounding Donald Trump Jr.’s secret meeting with a Russian lawyer, and the author uses this article to inform the public of Trump’s ability to grant a presidential pardon for those involved in the investigation. While I believe that many citizens have been informed about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting, I think this article informs readers that Trump has the ability to interfere in the FBI investigation.

Obamacare's Future Now Depends on an Unhappy White House

After Senate Republicans failed in their second attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, the current health care system lives on. Margot Sanger-Katz, a domestic correspondent for the New York Times, argues that the Trump Administration isn’t working on trying to solve current health care issues, but rather, is blaming them as failures of the previous Obama Administration. Trump told Republicans they should “let Obamacare fail,” adding, “I’m not going to own it.”

Even though Republicans control both houses of Congress, the rift between conservative and moderate Republicans has demonstrated that there is not enough agreement within the party to pass a major health overhaul bill without Democratic support. President Trump believes that a disaster in the insurance markets will make Democrats willing to negotiate with Republicans. But, Margot argues, “that could be a risky strategy,” putting millions of Americans at risk. The author offered an alternative solution. She proposed the Trump Administration take actions to reassure insurers and try to stabilize the markets. Margot argued that the Trump Administration, “has the power to minimize damage from any of the current health law’s flaws,” however, that doesn’t seem to be the President’s current path.

The author’s intended audience is the Trump Administration. In this article, Margot encourages President Trump to work on boosting the insurance markets, and to try to minimize the negative impacts of Obamacare. I agree with the author, and I believe that letting Obamacare fail will put millions of Americans at risk. I am also concerned that if Republican let Obamacare fail, they won’t be able to put the insurance market back together.

Senate Republicans Unveil New Health Bill but Divisions Remain

Today, the New York Times published an article about Senate Republicans unveiling their revised Health Bill to repeal and replace Obama's Affordable Care Act. The bill, however, is already in danger as two Republican senators, moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul, announced they are still against the new proposal. The bill needs 50 votes to win Senate passage, and one more defection would shut down the revised bill. Medicaid is at the heart of the debate, with conservative Republicans wanting to totally dismantle the Affordable Care Act, while moderate Republicans worry deep cuts to Medicaid would leave many citizens in their states without health care.

I believe that this article is worth reading because the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act is going to affect millions of Americans, and will change the way our health care system has been funded for the past 7 years under the Obama Administration. Also, with this being the second Republican Health Bill Proposal, it will be interesting to see if Senate Republicans can bridge the divide between moderates and conservatives.