Comment on a Colleague's Work #2 (What Are We Smoking?)

     My colleague, Austin, in his post addresses the great possibilities that we could achieve as a nation if marijuana were to be legalized completely. Austin begins this exposition by discussing the major successes that our friendly neighbors in Canada have achieved. To sum up their actions quickly, Canada became the first major country to legalize recreational marijuana. Because of this, all the non-violent marijuana charges have been lifted and many inmates in Canada have been rightfully released.  

     As my colleague explains in his post, it is very possible that the United States could benefit greatly if it were to follow the path progressively paved by Canada. Not only could the United States be saving hundreds of millions of dollars releasing all prisoners locked up for silly non-violent marijuana charges, but its economy would skyrocket if marijuana were to be traded legally. Ultimately leading to Austin's next point regarding how legalization of marijuana could help the United States steadily crawl out of its debt with the rest of the world.

     Aside from all the good that can come with the legalization of marijuana in which Austin has swiftly covered in his blog, I agree with the fact that these possibilities should at least be considered by our people in charge, not just ignored. We can clearly distinct the positive outcomes demonstrated to us by Canada, the only real problem I see is the fact that the United States has yet to do the same. If the people of the United States want real change, we should then properly educate people about the subject of marijuana and our economy instead of jailing them. Demonstrate to everyone that our country can benefit from these possible changes financially and healthily.  

Justified Murder

The United States of America holds the number one spot in quite an embarrassing statistic famously known to the rest of the world. As of July 2018, the United States is the country with the most incarcerated prisoners per capita. On top of that, the United States is one of the countries that allow the practice of capital punishment against its prisoners. Capital punishment, or punishment by death for serious crimes, is used in 54 other countries that execute their prisoners by hanging, using firing squads, or gas chambers. Gas chambers and lethal injections are the methods the United States use for its executions. This cruel method of punishment has not only drained the United States of tens of billions of dollars, but has become our way of justifying murder.

Aside from the normal high expenses it takes to keep just one prisoner behind bars, we must understand how much the United States is actually spending solely to kill our inmates. In Texas, a death penalty case can cost up to $2.3 million in taxpayer dollars, which is triple the amount spent to keep a prisoner in their cell for 40+ years. California death penalty costs can even go up to $4 billion given all the due processes. A death penalty case may also take very long periods time to complete in full, with some inmates having to wait decades for their turn on death row. With the great amounts of time and money we spend trying to kill our inmates, we clearly show that we value the act of murder over important and productive things like providing proper education and health care for our citizens. With that being said, capital punishment is just another factor preventing us from properly excelling as a country.

Comment on a Colleague's Work. (Right to Vote)

The right to vote is one of the many things that make our country special. Without voting, not everyone would have a fair say on what laws get passed and who gets elected. With that being said, I very much agree with Gabriela in her post defending everyone’s right to vote. However, Gabriela states that “People who have unpaid court fines and fees need to be required to vote because they have the right according our constitution.”. I do not agree with the idea that people who have disobeyed the law should still hold their right to vote. Gabriela thoughtfully expresses in her post how voting is a privilege granted to us by the Constitution. Like voting, the right to own a gun or private residence are also privileges, which can and should be taken away if you commit crimes against the Constitution. The government has the right to strip you of certain privileges if you chose to not abide by its laws.

Another point Gabriela brought up was how the right to vote along with other Constitutional rights are stripped from those who are considered poor. According to Gabriela, “our constitution says the government cannot deny poor people basic rights.”. Which is correct, the government has no right to deny the poor of their basic rights, and never has. If you are a citizen of the United States, poor or rich, you are granted the same rights as everyone else. You are only denied of your rights if you are charged for a crime. The government is simply not responsible for one’s financial stances.

All in all, I do agree with Gabriela that voting should be an unalienable right to all citizens of the United States. But I believe that we can all agree that people who do not abide by our nation’s laws should have certain rights stripped from them.

Young Voters - 2018

For the last 30+ years, voter turnout has always shown to be very low among people who are 18-29 years of age. This is true for both the presidential and midterm elections.  For example, the highest rate of voter turnout among this voting segment was in 1986 and 1994 where the turnout was only 21%.  However, in 2018 midterm elections, many believe that voter turnout among 18-29 year olds will be historically high resulting in the Republicans potentially loosing control of The House of Representatives.

During midterm elections less people, in general, participate in voting compared to the number of people who vote during presidential elections. The last midterm elections that took place in 2014, only about 21% of 18-29 year olds came out to vote. This year, a poll conducted by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, recorded an increase of young voters up to 40% stating that they will vote in the midterms.

Currently, the Republican Party holds control of both chambers of Congress. However, due to the expected increase in youth voter turnout, Republicans are not likely to hold onto the House of Representatives.  In the aforementioned Harvard Kennedy poll, significantly more young Democrats (54%) than young Republicans (43%) indicated they were likely to vote. According to the poll "66% of respondents supported Democrats taking back control of Congress, compared to 32% for Republican control."

Lastly, increased gun violence has resulted in significantly higher levels of social activism.  As a result, voter registration among younger voters has increased to record levels: approximately 800,000 young voters registered to vote on National Voter Registration Day in September. 

Children in Cages

Ever since the election of Trump back in November of 2016, immigration has been a rather touchy subject for many politicians as well as journalists. Globe Staff member, Suzanne Kreiter posted an article on the Boston Globe titled, The local face of Trump’s campaign against migrant children, regarding the issue of immigrant families forcefully being separated at our borders.

Kreiter begins the article with addressing the obvious issue at hand, all the immigrant children under United States custody. Followed by the fact that this situation has gotten nothing but worse in the past year. Stating how the Trump Administration have been wanting to "revamp" the immigration policies once again. Making it so that the process of releasing a child takes a longer and much more complicated time. Ultimately leading to Kreiter's next powerful point, how the total number of children under US custody has risen from 2,400 children as of May 2017, to approximately 13,300 children as of October 2nd of this year.

Moving on from statistics, Kreiter continues her article with the story of a mother and her son who have been badly affected by our "cruel" immigration policy. A mother named Evelyn who moved to Massachusetts from El Salvador, her 11 year old son came afterward and was taken to a government-contracted shelter in Corpus Christi, TX.

Immigration in the United States has clearly been an ongoing issue for quite a while now. Kreiter's article is a good read for those who wish to support the immigrant families who are still today being separated due to our strict and flawed immigration policy.

Team Anti-Kavanaugh

With Trump's new nominee, Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court, there have been large and countless outcries from the many people who are against this nomination. Not from just your average citizens, but by many educated law professors. On October 3rd, 2018, The Senate Should Not Confirm Kavanaugh, was posted on the New York Times and signed by over 1,700+ different law professors who disagree with the nomination of Kavanaugh. This letter was written to be presented to the United States Senate on October 4th, 2018 in hopes to offset the possible outcome of Kavanaugh becoming part of the Supreme Court. 

The letter begins by stating a key quality judges should have in order to carry out their work fairly and without bias, judicial temperament. The authors tend to point out frequently that Kavanaugh is very much lacking in judicial temperament due to his aggressive and partisan remarks towards any questioner. They point out that because of Kavanaughs aggressive and partisan behavior, he would not be fit to judge at such a level. 

Furthermore, the authors wrap up the letter on a strong note, stating how they could go on and on with Kavanaugh's false qualities. But more importantly that these many law professors, and counting, are united in their negative thoughts regarding him. 

Bannon's Plan

On August 15th, 2018, The New York Times published an article titled, Bannon's New Group Issues a Midterm Plea: Save Trump written by Jeremy W. Peters and Maggie Haberman. Peters is a reporter in the Washington Bureau of The New York Times, and Haberman is a White House correspondent who joined the Times in 2015. Their article regards the upcoming midterms this November and how former White House chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon plans to drive more voters in supporting the Republican side.

With the midterms just around the corner, the position of our current president, Donald J. Trump, may be compromised given certain outcomes. Bannon’s goal is to try and prevent the possible impeachment of our president by calling for support for the Republican party. Whether you are a Trump fan or not, this read may be of importance to anyone who will be voting in the midterms, as well as for those who are ambitious to know what changes and opportunities may lie ahead for our country.