Prison Modifications

Mariahlyne Briones, "We Need a Prison System Change - And Now," can be found here


I really enjoyed Mariahlyne Briones blog post that compares our prison system to Norway's prison system. I've heard several times that other countries have very successful systems that are completely different to America's and although when you first hear about it, it does sound insane, but these other countries have less crime, better economic status, and a less stressed country sooooo why not consider changing a few thins? This article was particularly intriguing because it has to do with prison systems. A topic like this is controversial because it has to with criminals like do they really deserve freedom and the rights to be treated this way when they've done something horrible?
Briones states that Norway treats their prisoners as "people" unlike Americans, who treat their prisoners like "animals," but what dumfounded me the most was Norway's inmates actually freedom. Though most of us may be against this, consider that their recidivism (prisoners who return to prison) is at 20% meanwhile America is at nearly 77%. This statistic is what really captured me because she has a point, why are we going to imprison a man for 20 years over weed, but imprison a man charged with rape, murder, assault, etc., for months or just a few years? This is a tactic that could potentially work in America, however, I do agree that this is not something that can happen in a short amount of time because this would be a major transition with our current system. And maybe this isn't a factor that could be enforced with all inmates but perhaps those charged with minor charges.
Mariahlyne Briones' article was very interesting to me and gave me a new way to perceive the function of our prison system when comparing two countries systems. Briones did a great job on this article, I thought it was well informed, intriguing, and credible. This is very controversial topic, but something to consider for sure, in my opinion.

Pork Barrel Projects: spending BILLIONS of dollars on insignificant issues!

By this point in our national government class I, and hopefully many others, have learned many new things about our government. Throughout this course, I’ve learned quite a few new and highly interesting topics. Some of these topics became intriguing to me due to the way our national government deals with our issues. In this passage, I’ll explain one of the topics in a lecture that really caught my attention.

A topic that we reviewed in class that continues to baffle me are the pork barrel projects. The pork barrel projects are a government appropriation, bill, or policy used to take the nation’s money and spend it on your district for your state. The projects consist of building things such as highways and bridges, or even research projects such as J.J. Pickle; when they do this it's a way to get their name across to the state that way you pick them when it comes to voting.

What really baffles me is how much money is spent on these projects. I mean, Alaska spent $10 BILLION dollars on a bridge… in Alaska… who lives in Alaska? What I’m trying to say is that, so much money shouldn’t be spent on something that is going to potentially be insignificant or not serve much of its purpose. If politicians, local representatives, national representatives, etc., want to provide name recognition that’s fine but if they want to spend billions of dollars just for a bridge that no one will benefit from then that is moronic. I think so much money should go towards things that will indeed matter to the public or things that will genuinely benefit the public. For instance, if there’s a school that is in serious need of financial help, well, why not help them? The representative attempting to get more votes can target an area in their district or state that is seeking attention. That is a positive way of attaining name recognition while also providing precise benefit the community.

It’s unfortunate that our government would rather spend their money on a project that is irrelevant or that will serve little to no use in the community. This makes it more apparent to the public that our nation would rather focus on an irrelevant issue rather than solve issues that actually seek attention. From my point of view, it seems that the public would rather create a billion dollar inapplicable issue rather than solve a long-term issue that continues to be ignored. It shows that our government chooses to focus on issues that are easier to tackle rather than concentrate on issues that really matter. It goes to show that our government only cares about themselves and only themselves. They care about name recognition in the voting booth so they can continue to serve for THEIR benefit, not ours, but theirs.

Minimum Wage

Jorge Dongu's blog post, "Should We Raise the Federal Minimum Wage" can be found here.

I agree with Jorge Dongu’s post on the federal minimum wage that states the gap and it’s affects on raising the minimum wage to $15. I recall reading a similar article in high school that I initially perceived as a bit foolish for individuals to be paid so much when doing a job that requires so little effort. I perceived it more as, the more the job requires effort, dedication, hard work, etc, then the employer will possess a deserved higher pay; however, my views changed with years to come. Speaking from personal experience, minimum wage mainly carries from the food industry so it is iffy for much of American citizens to be on board with a $15 minimum wage. Many of the employers that seek a high pay are more commonly ones who've worked with the company for years so as a result, they will of course, want a higher pay to support their family. With that said there may be a clearer understanding for those who seek this minimum wage. But as Dongu stated in his post, when considering the effects of making a change it could potentially affect multiple areas, I agree with the changes being based upon the state's economic status. Every state is different and by taking the state's economic status into consideration then there may be a slow but significant change to the minimum wage. For instance, the example Dongu gave in Seattle's case, they slowly increased their minimum wage until finally reaching $15. If states take the same initiative as Seattle and clearly think through every process then maybe the federal minimum wage can increase to $15. I like Dongu's post because it is a controversial topic that can be perceived in many different ways and there was also a respectable amount of information provided.

TRUST ISSUES

Over the years I've become a little more and more aware of our government. Being fresh and open-minded on our government can make us gullible to vows our representatives will make to the public. From the start, we want to trust them, because they're of higher authority and have been in the system for many years (considering that majority of them are old men). As a result, the American public puts their full faith and trust into these individuals, that they'll know exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.. right? Well, that's when trust issues begin, friendships are broken, and the authenticity of us comes out. And by that I referred to when Donald Trump first began campaigning, the best thing he has done is bring out the true colors of those who’ve been hiding their phobias.

Something common that the public knows is that these individuals will lie to us so they can have a sense of dominance and high authority. Sure we can throw all of our ideas at them and hope they hear our voices, but that doesn't actually happen. I believe we had an amazing president, Barack Obama, because of his skin color many continued to have a negative perspective on him but he made great changes to our world. Now we have a president who is full of 💩. It's completely clear that he doesn't know what he's doing and whatever actions it is he's making are slowly impacting our people!

I took government in high school but taking again this year, with a different mind set, I've realized a lot more! Our government has power over us! For instance, filter bubbles! Filter bubbles are a way of customizing our web searches and minimizing the opportunity for others to have different perspectives of the world; that leave us oblivious and close-minded to many other things that when I learned about this I was in complete shock! It's honestly very scary and creepy to know that they can do this to us. The government has full control over what we watch, search, and what type of knowledge we fill our minds with.

It's actually very unfortunate that most of our public is politically ignorant -- including myself. Although this class has taught me a lot so far, I know that there is still a lot out there that I can learn to be better involved with current political events. I believe that if more Americans became involved in political events and gained more knowledge not only politically but also of their community then the desire for change and unity would be more powerful than the authority of our representatives -- our voices would be heard!

Having trouble making America "great" again, Trump?

According to Time Politics, Zeke J. Miller's article on Trump's first 50 days of presidency consist of Trump's journey up until this point. Miller explains that Trump has "completed" at least five tasks so far: his policy agenda is still a work in progress, the White House didn't change Donald Trump, he's changing the presidency, his efforts to shake-up the government are well on their way, he doesn't like taking responsibility, and his voters are watching. Miller elaborates a little more in each statement and with each paragraph that I read, I found myself agreeing with Miller. 

Miller appears to be targeting an audience of Trump spectators, those who are waiting for Donald Trump to slip up. He is definitely correct when stating that Trump doesn't like to take responsibility, something most of America witnessed throughout his campaign. Also, when Miller makes his statement in "His policy agenda is still a work in progress," he explains that Obama already had his legislation going, meanwhile, Trump still waits for confirmation on his Cabinet. The view of instability for Trump may slowly start driving away his supporters once they realize that promises are not being made.

Miller seems to be implying that Trump hasn't accomplished the amount of work that should have been completed by our president by now. Miller's claims can be demonstrated through Trump's tweets, the Navy SEAL killed in Yemen, and a comparison through Obama's administration. Donald Trump is 50 days into his presidency and an insignificant amount of work has been made. I personally would like to see what genuine work Trump can accomplish during his term. Can he make an impactful difference in our nation? Despite the lack of credible sources, great points were made by Zeke J. Miller about our president. Although I don't agree with majority of president Donald Trump's beliefs and goals for our country, I do hope for a stronger nation and genuine, impactful change in America. 

To The Core 🌎🇲🇽🇸🇻🇯🇵🇨🇴

In an article written by Liz Peek, “How Illegal Immigrant Advocates Demonize Trump and Terrify People.” on the Fox News website, Peek describes how our American society has become influenced by the media. In today's generation, American citizens rely on social media as their main source for political information. As we all know by now, social media isn't the most reliable source due to its false publications. The media influences it's audience to believe that trumps acts are the reason for all of the recent deportation. Peeks states that in order for numerous deportations to take place the process itself takes long, therefore, how can such chaotic events occur so suddenly? 

As stated on Fox News by Liz Peek, "In a feverish blast to donors sent out yesterday, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee claims that “Donald Trump plans to add thousands of immigration agents and begin deporting “almost all” undocumented immigrants.”

That is, excuse the expression, fake news. Trump is doing no such thing. In fact, he recently hinted that he would most likely abide by President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, allowing the 740,000 people covered by that initiative to stay in the country. In addition, the new guidelines rolled out by Homeland Security indicate that people who have lived in the country for two years or more will not be vulnerable to “expedited removal.” Trump also has made it clear that he would prioritize deporting criminals." Peek explains that our society has misinterpreted Trump's real intentions.

Peek doesn't seem to be targeting Trump supporters or opposers, instead, she wants to clarify a misunderstanding that has been occurring with immigrant families and Trump opposers. As we've all come to realize, Trump has a tendency to capture his audience with his blunt personality so it's easy for many of his opposers to make judgments on his presidency, and his way of taking charge of situations.

From personal experience, I've had my own instances of living in fear due to potential deportation in my family or even with friends and their families. I'm not a trump support, nor is my family; however, in instances like this, when many families live in fear, is when it's most important to have solid and credible information.

Are We In Good Hands?

On Thursday, February 9th, 2017, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on President Donald Trump to withdraw his nominee, Andrew Puzder, for head Labor Department when recognizing his record as a business executive as well as his position on labor issues.  As stated by CNN politics, Senate Schumer commented, "They ought to withdraw Mr. Puzder before he further embarrasses this administration and further exposes the hypocrisy of President Trump, who says one thing to the American worker and does another." Also including Bernie Sanders who stated in a Twitter post, "we don't need a labor secretary who makes $10 million a year, while his workers are paid starvation wages and live in homeless shelters." As a government student and an American citizen, I agree with Sanders and Schumer, must we have someone represent our Labor Department when Puzder himself has his very own workers working "paid starvation wage," and living in homeless shelters? Is it okay to have someone with a background such as Andrew Puzder be America's representative for our Labor Department?