Donald Trump Named Times 2016 Person of the Year

President-Elect Donald Trump was named Times Person of the Year for 2016. Times Magazine gives this award to "the individual who has the most influence on events, for better or worse." The editor and Chief, Nancy Gibbs, said that it was hard to argue Donald Trump didn't deserve this title. Gibbs also talks about how the influence Donald Trump did have this year is argued to be for better or worse.




Link: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/2016-person-of-the-year-donald-trump/ar-AAlf7ZD?li=AA4ZnC&ocid=spartanntp

Female Clinton Supporters Feel Helpless

This article shares stories of women all across the country who feel helpless in their own country, and unsure of where to go from now. One story talked of a mother who wasn't sure what to tell her child how Trump won, because she told him he wasn't a kind man. Another was about a woman who went to law school and is around the same age of Clinton. She said she was shocked that the nation hadn't moved forward like she thought it had, and wept. Even a woman from the south said she was saddened because she has two daughters. Overall this article shows the disappointment and sadness women feel not only because the first serious woman presidential candidate lost, but also because a man so sexist is now in charge.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/us/politics/female-clinton-supporters-are-left-feeling-gutted.html

Obama and Trump Meet to Talk Transition of Power

Today (November 10th), President Obama invited President elected Donald Trump to come visit him in the white house, to discuss a hopeful smooth transition of power. During the hour and a half meeting, no aides were present. They discussed some great things to be achieved and Trump said he was excited for many, many more meetings with President Obama. Obama has urged the country to unite together after some backlashes from the election.

LINK: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-idUSKBN1350FO

District 4 Utah Congressional Race

In the District 4 congressional race, Mia Love (R) won with 53% of the vote. Doug Owens(D), who she was up against, lost with 43% of the vote. It was not as close as when they ran against each other in 2012, and although Doug Owens campaigned this election much more than the last election, he still lost. Mia Love was the incumbent, and the first Republican African American Woman in the House of Representatives.

Baylor Alleged Sex Assult Football Scandal Worse than Expected

Baylor University has been under serious fire as more and more information about multiple alleged sexual assault cases have come out against the football team. The school has been accused of covering up these cases, and even put blame on the victims, saying they broke school rules on premarital sex and drinking. These are huge Title IX  offenses, and could put the school under serious repercussions.

LINK: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/baylor-official-addresses-mishandled-sexual-assault-allegation-against-star-football-player/

Trump to only accept election results if he wins

Today, Donald Trump, while in Ohio, stated that he will only accept the election results if he won. If Hillary won, he said if he felt election fraud had occurred, he would take the right legal actions. Mike Pence, Trumps running mate, tried to save what Trump said by claiming that they would obviously accept a fair election, but if they fill like they need to take legal actions, than they most certainly will do so.



LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/20/politics/donald-trump-i-will-totally-accept-election-results-if-i-win/index.html

Trump claims elections are rigged... still

Donald Trump has claimed in Tweets and speeches that the election has been rigged. He claims that the media is lying about the polls and that polling places are also being rigged. Trump has made these allegations without any proof to back up any of what he is saying. Some people are saying he is doing this to prepare for a loss. No presidential candidate has ever claimed that the election has or is rigged. Even Paul Ryan went against Trump on this one.



LINK: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/2016/10/16/rigged-election-chorus-complaint-team-trump/92195244/

Melania Trump Defends Donald Trump's Leaked Tape

Melania Trump, Donald Trumps wife, has defended her husband from sexual misconduct accusations. In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, she stated that she believed her husband did not do any of what was accused, and that he was just partaking in "boy talk" he was "egged on" into. She even joked that her husband sometimes acts like an overgrown boy, which seems suiting based on his sudden outbursts and interruptions during debates with Hillary Clinton.



LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/17/politics/melania-trump-interview/index.html

High School Football Player Dead After Game

Andre Jackson was a student athlete at Euclid High School in a town near Cleveland. He was kicked during a kick off play, and walked off the field himself, and was taken to the hospital. He was released the same day, and thought everything was fine. Two days later he went to the hospital again, and was pronounced dead later that day. The cause of death was small bowel laceration and peritonitis. This occurred from a blow to the abdominal area. Although there are rules to prevent certain injuries in football, it still doesn't stop them. Each year about 12 football related deaths occur due to high school and college football.
 

LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/health/high-school-football-player-death-ohio/index.html

Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Can it be Saved?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a floating island of trash between North America and China. It is the width of Russia. Many pieces of plastic are too small to be able to pick up at this point, and are hurting plankton at the bottom of the ocean. Plankton is what many fish live off of, and the microplastic entering the ocean is killing off many species of fish. CNN predicts that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. Plastic has also been found in Artic ice, showing the major spread.

LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/world/plastic-plague-oceans/index.html

Houston shooting

Antione Nelson, a lawyer and all together normal man, opened fire in a Houston parking lot at random people passing by and cars. He injured 9 people. It was said he fired hundreds of rounds from 2 guns legally bought. One was bought in 2009 and the other in 2011. He was killed by police at the scene, and they found Nazi memorabilia not only on him, but at his resident. The mayor stated that he is not sure if that was a reason behind it, but it could be. The police are still looking for answers.

LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/us/houston-shooting/index.html

Stein Escorted Off Debate Grounds

Jill Stein, the Green Party Candidate, was escorted off of the Hofstra University debate today by security. Since she did not make the polling threshold of 15%, she was not supposed to be there. In fact, she did the same thing 4 years ago, and was actually arrested for it. Her and her team tweeted they were at Hofstra, which caused security and law enforcement to try and find her as she moved from one broadcast outlet set up to the next. She is planning to have a rally outside of the university, and to answer the same questions asked to Trump and Clinton via Twitter.

LINK: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/green-party-candidate-jill-stein-escorted-off-debate-premises-resorts-to-twitter/ar-BBwF4OX?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

Charlotte in State of Emergency

Charlotte, North Carolina has been put into a state of emergency after violent protests have broken out following the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. The Charlotte police are refusing to release the video of Scott being shot to the public, which raises questions from multiple people. The protests started out peaceful, but quickly went violent, with people breaking windows and destroying buildings around the streets. The police even had to use tear gas. Keith Scotts daughter claims he was siting in his car reading a book, and wasn't armed.


LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/22/us/charlotte-protests/index.html

California High School Students Get Points Docked for not Standing during Pledge

A teacher at Lower Lake High School in California was docking points from students who were sitting during the Pledge of Allegiance. One student, Leilani Thomas, is a Native American. She was told she was being disrespectful after she told the teacher she found what the Pledge of Allegiance stood for not right. The school district, once they were informed of the situation, were in full support of Thomas, and wanted to protect her First Amendment Rights. They allowed her, along with other students who were receiving similar treatment from the teacher, to move classes.


LINK: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/15/california-high-school-students-grade-lowered-for-sitting-during-pledge-allegiance.html

Murder Case Solved after 43 Years

43 Years ago, two 13 year old girls were found dead in a small town in California. They were shot with a shotgun at close range, and one of them was raped. The case had been closed, but with new advancements on DNA, they reopened the case. They had kept DNA found on one of the girls, and tested it. They found the DNA of two men, one that still lives in the small town this occurred. The two men, William Lloyd and Larry Don Patterson face multiple charges, and will, hopefully, be in jail for the rest of their lives.


LINK: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/suspects-43-year-old-cold-case-arrested-california-oklahom-article-1.2791017

Arrest Made for Arson on a Mosque in Florida

Joseph M. Schreiber was arrested for arson after a video of a man walking towards a Mosque with a bottle and paper, then throwing it at the religious building, appeared. This Mosque was where the gunman of the Pulse Nightclub massacre attended. Schreiber had put anti-Islamic views all over his social media, and even made the claim that there is no such thing as extreme Islam, that all Islam is extreme. No one was injured during this attack, only a hole was burned into the roof of the Mosque.


LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/us/arrest-made-in-arson-at-mosque-that-orlando-nightclub-gunman-attended.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Judge Facing Possible Removal from the Bench

Robin Camp, a judge in Canada, is under trial for inappropriate questions and advice given during a trial he was judge for. The rape victim in the case was nineteen years old. Camp asked this young woman and rape victim "why couldn't you just keep your knees together." The victim also told the man that was  accused to warn his friends to be more gentle and patient with women, and that they have to be careful for themselves. The man was acquitted, and is still out there today. Judge Camp has apologized for his remarks, and his own trial will be held in November.

LINK: http://www.cnn.com/videos/justice/2016/09/13/robin-camp-canada-judge-rape-comment-lv.cnn

Zika is an STD and Needs to be Considered One

Zika has become a more prominent and serious threat in the United States. The danger of it is that someone could have it, and could show no signs. Because it is an STD, it could seriously hurt a large majority of the population, effecting our next generation. The United States has had serious problems in the past addressing STDs that have caused epidemics, an example of that is AIDS.  The FDA has even realized the danger of it, and has called for testing of it in blood donations. The expenses of being tested for zika is also highly priced, and not covered by most insurance.

LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/11/opinions/zika-should-be-called-an-std/index.html

Deaths in Understaffed Texas Jail

Hundreds of people die each year in jail cells in the United States each year. Harris county has had 12 so far this year in its jail. It is one of the largest jails in the United States. It is understaffed, and the people that do work there has a starting salary of  $34000 a year, a wage that is very hard to live off of. They use it as a stepping stone to get to other jobs, and don't take it as an actual career.


LINK: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harris-county-jail-deaths_us_57c5ed53e4b0e60d31dbfd2b?section=&section=us_politics

Brock Turner Out of Jail Three Months Early

Brock Turner, the rapist and ex Stanford swimmer, was released 3 months early from jail after only being sentenced for 6 months for sexual assault. The case attracted a lot of attention, because of the way the media portrayed Turner. A lot of people believe they weren't strong enough on the conviction of Brock Turner. Now that he is out, he is a registered sex offender for life and will have to live with his parents for the next three years.

LINK: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/02/ex-stanford-swimmer-brock-turner-leaves-jail-after-serving-half-his-term-for-sexual-assault.html

Colin Kaepernick refuses to stand during national anthem

Colin Kaepernick has been refusing to stand during the national anthem as a form of protest because he believes the United States is a racist country and needs to be fixed. A ton of people are bashing him for doing this, but it is technically legal because it is his personal freedom to do so. The media has been dragging so much attention to it, which is actually what he wanted so it worked. It is however highly disrespectful, even if you believe this country is racist. There were plenty of other ways he could have dragged the media into the situation.


LINK:http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/sport/nfl-preseason-49ers-chargers-colin-kaepernick-national-anthem/index.html

US fires warning shots at Iranian Vessel

Iranian vessels came within 300 yards of US vessels, and after the US fired off flares, and had a conversation with the Iranian crew team, they still kept coming towards the US. So they had to fire 3 warning shots into the ground to let them know they were coming to close. Then they turned around. The reason this is such a big deal is because of the Iran Nuclear War.



LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/politics/iranian-vessels-come-within-300-yards-of-us-destroyer/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool

Trump meets President Nieto

Donald Trump met with the Mexican President, Enrique Pena Nieto, on Wednesday. Nieto said the meeting was to get to know each other. He also claimed he told Donald at the beginning of the meeting Mexico will not be paying for the wall,which Trump has claimed he will make happen as part of his campaign. In Donald Trumps statements about the meeting, he claimed that no ways on how to pay for the wall had been discussed.

Thousands of protesters protested in Mexico City outside of where the venue was being held. Signs being held included sayings like "trump is not welcome here". A lot of Mexicans weren't happy with their already disliked President on inviting trump into their country.

LINK: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/08/31/donald-trump-mexico-enrique-pena-nieto-immigration/89641690/

Jill Stein on Clinton emails

In this article, Stein attacked Clinton and her email scandals. Unlike Bernie Sanders, who critizied the media for worrying about the emails instead of actual policies, she called Clinton out, and even talked about how it isnt a coincedence that she is known as "'one of the most untrusted presidential candidates ever''. Jill Stein has been trying to get Sanders supporters, and the 15% to get into political debates. This story could help her gain supporters.






LINK: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/08/23/jill-stein-clinton-emails-reveal-security-risks-special-deals-for-donors/

North Korea Threatens Nuclear Strike

In this article by CNN, it talks about how North Korea is threatening nuclear strikes on the United States because the US and South Korean soldiers practiced a drill. This drill had a little over 25,000 US troops. In the article, it states that North Korea is in fact a real threat now, with their recent missile tests being pretty legit. The military exercise was annual, and not for any specific threat occurring.






LINK: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/politics/north-korea-south-korea-us-military-exercise/index.html

President Obama to visit Baton Rouge

In the article from Washington Post, it talks about how the GOP has criticized President Obama for not visiting Baton Rouge after record floods immediately, and instead staying on vacation. He is set to visit Tuesday. Donald Trump visited last Friday, asking for more national attention for the situation. The reasoning Obama used was that he didn't want to use resources their to take away from the clean up and rescue actions, like having police officers protect him instead of saving people. Trump taking early action into Louisiana probably helped his campaign greatly.










LINK: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/08/19/obama-to-visit-baton-rouge-on-tuesday-following-criticism-from-gop/

Judge Blocks Federal Government From Enforcing Transgender Guidance In Schools Nationwide

In May the Department of Justice and the Department of Education set guidelines to help schools work with their transgender students. One of these guidelines was allowing these students to use whatever bathroom they identified with. 13 states sued the federal government for overstepping their use of Title IX. Title IX was made to prevent sexual discrimination in the work place and in schools, and these 13 states believe that this goes beyond Title IX. Their are also groups that have filed a legal brief in support of the Obama administration and the government.




Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/judge-blocks-transgender-bathroom-law_us_57b4932fe4b04ff88399dd0d?section=&section=us_politics

"The Real Deal About the US Mexico Border"

This news video is about the US Mexico Border and if it is enough security or not already. In the video it is said that the US has spent 7 billion so far on border security. One of Donald Trumps big issues he talks about is how he wants  to build a wall across the whole border. The video proves that that is impractical and impossible, as the cost would be 25 billion, not including labor. There are also treaties between the US and Mexico that they can't build on the wet  lands around the Rio Grande river.










LINK:
http://youtu.be/Wtu5Uksz5sI

"Most and Least Religious States" article summary

The article measured religious views for each state by looking at worship attendance, prayer frequency, belief in God, and the importance of religion in one's self. The article showed that the southern states, like Mississippi and Alabama, were far more religious than North and North Eastern states in the United States. Political scientists would be interested in it because, most of the time, the more religious a state is, the more likely it is to be conservative.

Week 1

The first two days in AP Government we took quizzes from the Pew website. One was a news iq quiz, testing how much of the news we listen or read. The other quiz was a typology quiz, which was a series of questions that showed how far left or right you were politically. The next class period we did an activity which showed that basically everything in the media and in life can be played back to political standings. The most recent class period we talked about the powerpoint we had to look over and answer questions for homework. We went over each and every graph detailed and sometimes got a little off topic but still in an educational way relating to the graph we were going over. The graphs showed that people over the age of 65 in the United States voted as an average way more than people in there twenties and thirties. They also showed that in the nest 30 years the white population will no longer be a majority in the United States.