Society, Politics, & Economics

Thanksgiving provides Americans with a long weekend to spend time with family and to spend time reflecting on their lives and the world around them. As such, I have decided to create a relative list describing just some of the many things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for Net Neutrality and the fight to keep Net Neutrality as the standard for American internet access. Net Neutrality allows for all of us to enjoy the internet equally, it allows for our right of free speech, thought, and expression to be expanded to a medium we all use extensively on a daily basis. I am thankful for our constitutionally guaranteed rights to free speech and religion. The First Amendment protects some of the most important and fundamental rights we could possibly have. Because of the protections contained within the First Amendment, I have the right to practice whatever religion I could possibly dream up and at the same time, I have the right to live free of any and every religion imagin...

The First Indictments From Mueller Have Arrived Early yesterday morning Robert Mueller publicly disclosed the first charges to have officially been filed as part of the special investigation. Paul Manafort, and his associate Rick Gates, turned themselves into the FBI on 12 separate charges, including conspiracy against the United States. They would go on to plead not guilty . George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign, plead guilty to lying to the FBI regarding his contacts with various Russians. The investigation, that has been attacked by Trump as “ the greatest witch hunt in history ”, has finally shown its teeth. But what comes next? Charges such as this could have damming ramifications for the Trump administration. Manafort was, at one time, campaign manager for the Trump presidential campaign, with apparent close ties to Trump himself. There is a possibility that the charges against Manafort can be used to obtain additional information...

Trump Is Showing The LGBTQ+ Community His True Intentions Today Trump announced the military's new policy of banning transgender individuals from military service. It's a relatively surprising yet unsurprising twist to the Trump administration's policy regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Trump's VP, Mike Pence, has a storied  history of anti-LGBTQ+ policy.  Trump surrogates and conservative media outlets have repeatedly attempted to paint Trump as the most LGBTQ+ friendly president in American history. Even after this move, his surrogates are still trying to defend Trump and justify his actions.  Trump has attempted to paint himself as LGBTQ+ friendly because of his ongoing culture war against those that he and his camp of advisors view as non-western, primarily Muslims. Trump is emphatically the president of the nativist and xenophobic population in the US, Steve Bannon being one of his primary advisors shows this. As part of this culture war, Trump and hi...

Trump Cannot Pardon Himself As the Russia investigation, as led by Robert Mueller , picks up ever increasing steam, the stress it places on President Trump has continuously increased. Recently, Trump and members of his staff have begun to research the power of the pardon that the office of the president holds. Trump is reportedly considering pardoning himself. He cannot do this. The power of the pardon may be broad, but no person in this country is above the law. When a officeholder  that maintains the power of the pardon uses it on an individual, they excuse them of all crimes that may have been committed. The use of such a power on oneself is unprecedented in American history. Nixon was not pardoned until he stepped down and Gerald Ford assumed power. This was a clear misuse of power, but it was not as much of a misuse of power had Nixon pardoned himself. Nixon clearly violated the law, he stepped down and did not face criminal charges because his successor excused him...

At A Minimum, Criminal Charges Must Be Filed News has broken  that Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Donald Trump Jr. took a meeting with a Russian government connected lawyer. Newly released emails show how the meeting apparently took place to further the Russian government's efforts to support the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Campaign finance laws clearly state that American electoral campaigns cannot request "something of value" as a contribution from foreign nationals and governments. Emails show that the meeting took place to further the Russian government's efforts to support the Trump campaign. This is clearly an attempt by the Trump campaign to solicit a contribution of "something of value" from a foreign national or government. The emails show that three members of the campaign are directly at fault, while leaving the standing of the rest of the campaign up in the air.  This is dangerous. Members of the Trump campaign app...

Constant Attacks On The Press And The Media Have Fractured The American Public The 4th Estate, or better known as the press (or the media), is a crucial component of The United States. The First Amendment guarantees the public's right to having a free and open press, and American history has thanked our nation's founders for that right. Without the 4th Estate, the American public never would have learned about Nixon and the Watergate scandal, the truth about Vietnam may have never come to light, and political discussion and debate would be drastically limited.  The press acts as the American public's best source for information regarding their government's and politician's actions and beliefs. The press is one of the pivotal components of a system that ensures a free and open debate of opinion, ideology, and belief exists in society. Coverage regarding President Trump has been critical and relatively negative. Trump has responded by lashing out at me...

The Policy Won't Hold Up Under Strict Scrutiny The Trump administration is hell bent on enforcing its immigration and refugee ban. The ban would ultimately a temporary ban on the inflow of Muslims into the United States, however we cannot truly know what Trump means when he says temporary. The language of the ban does not explicitly discriminate against Muslims and the Islamic faith, but the intent behind the ban and the potential effect of the ban are to explicitly discriminate against Muslims and Islam. The Supreme Court is likely to view this case in regards to the religious clauses of the First Amendment. These clauses are the free exercise of religion clause and the establishment of religion clause. The former concerns an individual's right to practice their religion as they see fit, while the latter concerns government support for religion and/or the disadvantaging of religion by the government. The constitution applies first and foremost to the government its...

The Left Must Understand What Mike Pence Represents The current President of the United States, Donald Trump, is currently embroiled in scandal after scandal. Much of them concern the matter of Russia's involvement in the election and Trump's awful handling of the controversy surrounding it. Some Democrats, and even a few Republicans, have either mentioned or been asked about the possibility of the impeachment and removal of President Trump. Representative Al Green has begun his efforts at kick-starting impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives. While the impeachment and removal of Trump as the president is unlikely while Republicans control both houses of Congress, it is interesting and important to discuss the issue. If Democrats are successful in the process, the vice president, Mike Pence, is next in line to become the president. He represents a relatively significant departure from the current state of governing at the office of the presidency. M...

Trump's "Mistake" Poses A Danger To Our Society Former FBI Director James Comey gave testimony to the Senate today, during which we learned more details regarding his interactions with President Trump. Comey described his meeting with Trump, in regards to Mike Flynn, as a conversation in which Trump requested that Comey and the FBI drop the investigation into Flynn. The exact word that Trump used in his request was “hope”. Comey took this as being an order from the President for him to end the investigation. Comey was criticized for not informing the President that requests of this nature were inappropriate for him to make. However, Paul Ryan, the current Speaker of the House of Representatives in Congress, described this at a news conference by saying:  “He's new in government, and so therefore I think he's learning as he goes" . This response from Paul Ryan is disappointing in a multitude of ways. It shows how members of the same political p...