Previous Decision Allowing Purging of Voters in Ohio Now Overturned

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The state of Ohio previously acquired the right to purge voters who demonstrated political inactivity for over a six-year period. Although the state defended their actions by stating they only intended to keep voter lists “accurate and up to date,” many voter-rights groups expectedly challenged the controversial decision. These groups extended to demonstrate political activism by seeking an emergency motion; however, a federal judge overturned such grant in stating that the action of purging citizens who fail to vote in three federal elections or fail to take other similar voting-related actions does not demonstrate illegality. 

Upon further observing actions taken by the Ohio state government, the A. Philip Randolph Institute recently challenged the specific confirmation notices that were actually sent to voters regarding the issue. These notices, according to the Institute, demonstrated a severe lack of clarity and did not rightly inform voters of consequences at stake. Bringing this concern back to the court, it was ruled this Wednesday that the confirmation notices indeed “did not adequately advise registrants of the consequences of failure to respond, as the NVRA (National Voting Rights Act) requires.” The court therefor concluded that the state of Ohio may no longer, at the moment, purge voters due to a lack of political participation. Ohio continues to assert that their primary intention remained making it “easy to vote and hard to cheat.” In addition, other politically conservative states claim to follow suit in this action of purging inactive voters if Ohio manages to regain its previous victory.

Questions to consider:

1. Do you believe purging inactive voters is unconstitutional?
2. How might the action of purging inactive voters impact minority groups? In what ways might it silence their voice?
3. Generally characterized as a key swing state, how would purging previously inactive voters affect the commonly marginal results of Ohio’s elections?
4. As other conservative states begin considering following Ohio’s actions, how might the country’s overall voter turnout be affected? (Possibly consider whether it will prompt previously inactive voters to finally vote, or rather create an ineffective outcome)

Package Bomber Who Sent Bombs to at Least 12 People Has Been Taken into Custody

Broward County Sheriff's Office

Cesar Sayoc Jr. is the name of the 56 year old man who was arrested near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a suspect in the attempted bombing spree that struck the country just before mid term elections.He was caught after a quick investigation in which authorities said they were able to pull a fingerprint from one of the bomb packages and collect. Mr. Sayoc’s DNA from two others. Mr. Sayoc, an outspoken Trump supporter, sent 14 pipe bombs to at least 12 critics of Trump, The most prominent of which including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, a former CIA director and actor Robert De Niro. He was an avid poster on multiple right-winged Social media groups and published pictures of himself at a Trump rally wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat. President Trump praised law enforcement official for their quick arrest, later stating that "These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country."  Cesar is a registered Republican whose arrest record in Florida goes back to 1991 which includes felony theft, drug and fraud charges, as well as allegations that he threatened to use a bomb,all of which can be seen in public records.

Discussion Questions

1.  Do you think this will have any effect on the outcome of the mid term elections, or just be past off as another case of a mentally ill extremest? Why?

2. Do you think there has been an increase of events similar to this in recent times? Why or why not?

3. Do you think the timing of this was too perfect? Why would someone who could plan all this out, carry it out right before an important election?

Trump Proposes Executive Order to Disband Birthright Citizenship

newsmax.com

The 14th amendment, passed in 1868, states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” However, earlier on October 30, 2018, President Trump claimed that he is planning to give an executive order to end birthright citizenship in the United States.  This means that if a child is born in the US to illegal immigrant parents, the child will not be recognized as an American citizen. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence state some reasoning to be that people immigrate to the US and have children here as a way to take advantage of the benefits of this country- without having to go through immigration. While it is not in the presidential jurisdiction to override an amendment, Trump is arguing that he can enforce this executive order because of how he interprets the 14th amendment. To him and other supporters, the 14th amendment only applies if the person is born to parents who came to the country legally. I personally believe that this is a claim with the purpose of gaining attention and to pose as a threat to people who are immigrating illegally. I think that this stems from the immigrant caravan heading towards the US-Mexico border. Many officials have stated that it is not legally possible for Trump to change the 14th amendment, but because it is based on his interpretation (as illegal immigrants are not mentioned in the constitution), it is not necessarily impossible.

Questions

How does the timing of this decision (being so close to the midterm election)  impact the

validity of Trump’s statement? Do you think he is serious?

Do you think Trump’s reasoning for this executive order are valid concerns?

Should whether or not the parents are legal immigrants determine the citizenship of the child

even if they were born in the US?

Would this be a violation of the 14th Amendment or would it be legal given the parents are

illegal immigrants?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/us/politics/trump-birthright-citizenship.html

Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting

Article

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

On Saturday October 27th, at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania a gunman killed 11 worshipers and injuring 6 others. The gunman was 46-year-old Robert Bowers. Bowers has had a large history of posting anti-Semitic content online. He was taken into custody Saturday and is now facing the death penalty. Bowers stormed the Synagogue on Saturday armed with an AR-15 and three handguns, after being taken into custody he was quoted saying to an officer, "They're committing genocide to my people. I just want to kill Jews." As of Monday, October 10th, President Trump plans to visit Pittsburgh and meet with the mourning families, although many of these families have stated that they do not wish to meet him, the mayor has also mentioned for him not to come. Many other political leaders have declined invitations to join Trump on his visit. Many are criticizing Trump's decision to visit Pittsburgh and his comments regarding the shooting, on Saturday Trump tweeted that "This evil Anti-Semitic attack is an assault on humanity. It will take all of us working together to extract the poison of Anti-Semitism from our world. We must unite to conquer hate." This tweet and his choice to travel to Pittsburgh has been seen as very hypocritical by many as some believe he has made many anti-semitic comments in the past.

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you feel that Trump's decision to travel to Pittsburgh is for moral reasons? or do you believe that he is doing so just for positive political attention?
2. Do you feel that the decision by other political leaders to not accept Trump's invitation is understandable?
3. Is the Death penalty a fitting punishment for this man?

GA Governor's election is close and involves race and access to voting

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                                          Kevin Liles, NY Times

The Georgia Governor's election is a close contest involving Stacey Abrams against Brian Kemp. Abrams is the Democrat and she hopes to become the first black woman to be a Governor in the U.S. Brian Kemp is the Republican and has been Georgia Secretary of State for the past eight years. The theme of this race is voter registration as Abrams founded an organization that has registered thousands of new voters in the past five years meanwhile Kemp has overseen the cancellation of 1.4 million voter registrations since 2012. There are currently 53,000 new voter registrations that have been suspended and 70% of those are black people. Based on the 2010 census Georgia was approximately 60% white and 30% black. An average of five polls taken over the past four weeks gives Kemp a 1.6% lead, but all of the polls were within the margin of error, so voter turnout will play a huge role in the outcome of this election.

Discussion Questions

1. Should voters who are registered but don't present ID at a polling location be allowed to vote?

2. Is the evidence of voter suppression presented in this article compelling?

3. What campaigning strategies of either candidate do you like or dislike?

Ocean Cleaning Device is Almost Ready for Action

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Wilson, the cleaning pipe 

Wilson, a 2000 foot long pipe, is almost about to begin its journey to clean up the Great Pacific garbage patch, a massive floating pile of plastic garbage in the middle of the ocean. It is set to reach its starting point on Tuesday and begin cleaning shortly afterward. The device isn't supposed to clean every bit of plastic in the Pacific, but is projected to clean up to 90% of the 150 million tons of garbage in our oceans. This project is a huge step in fighting environmental degradation and hopefully many will see it as an inspiration to continue fighting for climate change reform, e.t.c. The Ocean is a huge supplier of food and resources, and it would be in our best interests to keep our food safe to consume. This relates to this idea of environment degradation and climate change. There is a huge argument whether we should preserve the environment or allow people to harvest its resources for profit. Personally, I think we should protect the environment at all costs. After all, this is our only planet. We should treat it with care and respect to ensure success for future generations.

1) Should the environment be protected? Or should people be allowed to use land/ocean for their own needs?

2) What kinds of regulation would be effective in stopping environmental degradation, on land and in the ocean?

3) Do you think Wilson will be effective in solving the ocean pollution problem? Why or why not?

Two shot and killed at Krogers in Kentucky

Two grocery shoppers were shot and killed at a Krogers grocery store in Jefferson, Kentucky on Wednesday. An unidentified suspect fatally shot a man inside the store, then proceeded to go outside and fatally shoot a women outside the store. An unnamed armed citizen shot at the suspect in the parking lot, but neither were struck. The suspect fled the scene then was soon apprehended by cops. Although it is very early in the Investigation, police suspect the shooting was random and the citizens shot weren't targets of the shooter. This story brings through two perspectives on the debate over guns in America. On one hand, you could argue that the lack of gun regulation and the simplicity of the process of purchasing a gun should be at blame for this shooting. On the other hand, one could reason that the situation could've been much worse if the armed citizen wasn't there to exchange fire with the suspect and force him to flee. I personally feel that although guns have the ability to be used in a heroic manner, if there weren't so many guns within our Country, situations like this could be avoided.

1)How do you feel about the current laws and regulations on purchasing a gun?
2)What are steps America could take to avoid situations like this in the future?
3)Should the shooter or the guns laws in America be blamed for tragic shootings like this? Why?


https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/24/us/kentucky-kroger-shooting/index.html