Use of Torture Against Terrorists

5/19/16
Political Issues Project
Is the use of torture against terrorists suspects ever justified?

Torture has been used for hundreds of years on prisoners-of-war, law breakers, and most recently, terrorists. After the 9/11 attacks 4 members of Al Qaeda were captured under President Bush's Administration. Torture was used on the 4 terrorists in order to gain information and insight about potential future attacks. The 9/11 attacks justified, at the time, the torture of the Al Qaeda terrorists according to the Bush Administration. When the public became aware of the acts of the Bush Administration, it became skeptical in deciding whether the torture was justified or not. 59% of Americans believed the torture was justified, 31% said unjustified, and 9% is undecided. Many different viewpoints have risen, people who are absolutists believe that torture is morally wrong and does not work. There are other ways to gain information, especially with our technology today, so we should not resort to torture. Some believe that under certain circumstances torture is justified and is necessary for maintaining security of the American land and people. But in order to use torture there must be warrants and permission to do so. Many conservatives believe that suspected terrorists should be subjected to torture such as waterboarding. Presidential candidate Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have stated that their administrations would bring back torture and defy President Obama's previous laws put in order against torture. The CIA is under strict law to prohibit the use of torture, and many members have stated that if the future president were to order them to use torture, they would not follow. President Obama stated in his 2012 election campaign "Torture goes against the core values of this nation, it creates enemies rather than defeating them and sets back America's standing in the world". If government officials were to use torture, they would be opposing this nations principles and laws. Even during times of war and when the security of this nation is threatened, torture should not be permitted. The U.S. has the strongest military in the world, and the best intelligence systems. We should not resort to torture and stoop to the level of other countries in the Middle East who use torture to gain pleasure in hurting their enemies. We need to build relationships with other countries and fight the war on terrorism with the least amount of torture. No human being should be subject to torture whether they are an American citizen or not. 

Citations

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-poll-finds-majority-of-americans-believe-torture-justified-after-911-attacks/2014/12/16/f6ee1208-847c-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html
• https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/09/17/torture-tool-fight-against-terrorist-groups-like-isis/1Tfqfk1Amck7Rh9kEra8IN/story.html
• http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-torture-hands-arent-entirely-clean
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_the_United_States#Domestic_torture_in_modern_times
• https://www.hrw.org/news/2003/03/11/legal-prohibition-against-torture#What

Unit 4 Judiciary Branch

5/4/16
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/us/politics/supreme-court-stephen-breyer-capital-punishment-california
Justice Breyer Assails Capital Punishment


Summary: High on the SCOTUS, political agenda is the debate over capital punishment, commonly known as the death penalty. Justice Breyer has urged his fellow justices to rethink their decision to turn down a case that would have challenged California's death penalty. Richard Boyer was sentenced to death row after murdering two people. From jail he wrote about the stress of a long wait on death row. Justice Breyer has used this to his advantage. Stating that California's death penalty system is a dysfunctional system and is unreliable. Breyer stated that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendments which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. He believes that the time between a death sentence and when the execution occurs is much too long and can be considered cruel and unusual punishment.


Analysis: The Supreme Court has the jurisdiction to vote on whether the death penalty is unconstitutional or not. Justice Breyer stated "Our Constitution was written at a time when delay between sentencing and execution was measured in days and weeks, not decades". This is an example of judicial restraint because Breyer believes that the Supreme Court needs to consider that the delay is cruel and unusual punishment as described in The Eighth Amendment, meaning that the court should decide laws on the strict basis of the of the Constitution. This is loose constitutionalism however because Breyer believes the federal government should make this delay illegal, which gives more power to the government.

Unit 4 Bureaucracy

"The Whistle-blower Protection Act"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-d-gerber/whistleblower-protection_b_5510792.html
4/24/16



Summary:
VA Hospitals have been falsifying records regarding their medical treatment and what has been provided for patients. A whistleblower is an employee who releases information exposing any misconduct happening at their workplace. The Whistle Blower Protection Act protects those employees who release the information. It states that the employer cannot punish the employee in any way such as firing or decreasing pay. Doctors, nurses, and other staff at the VA hospitals have released information that has put the VA hospitals under the microscope of the Federal government. OSHA is a federal agency, that is under the federal bureaucracy of the Department of Labor, that is in charge of protecting the whistle blowers. Supposedly for years now OSHA has not been doing their job, they have been slacking on investigating and reporting misconduct happening at the VA hospitals. The people working for OSHA who are bureaucrats have been treating the employees like they are the ones to blame for the misconduct.



 Analysis: The federal bureaucracy "OSHA" follows by regulations that give them the right to protect employees who release the information about their employers. If OSHA doesn't do their job this allows employers to get away with things that should be brought to the governments attention and reported. Federal bureaucracies have a lot of power, and are given this power for a reason.

Unit 4 Executive Branch

Emma McSherry
4/2/16

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/international/obama-in-cuba
"Obama Visits Cuba"



Summary:
President Obama traveled to Cuba to meet with Cuban leader Raul Castro. No sitting president has visited Cuba since 1928. For many years Obama set a policy agenda stating that he wanted to repair relations with Cuba. Obama announced that he would be visiting Cuba to "advance our progress and efforts that can improve the lives of the Cuban people". Obama wants to end the trade embargo and encourage a change in the regime in Cuba. Obama not only met with Castro but a wide range of civil society leaders as well. Many of those people are Conservative and do not agree with Obama's decision to restore relations with Cuba. But, there were many communist people who once followed Fidel, who enjoyed and approved of Obama's speech. One communist man said that the communication between Obama and Raul is fundamental and very important for changing Cuba for the better after all of these years.



Analysis: When President Obama met with Raul Castro in Cuba, he fulfilled the expressed role written in the Constitution of being Chief Diplomat and meeting with other foreign leaders. Meeting with Raul Castro was very beneficial to the United States and to Cuba. Relations between the two countries has not been stable for many years, and repairing relations will allow trade between the two, and allow American citizens to travel there. Considered to be the fourth branch of government, the media had a field day with the POTUS trip to Cuba. The Belgium bombing happened while Obama was in Cuba, and it did not stop him from achieving all of his goals in Cuba.

Unit 4: Congress Ken Buck

3/21/2016

Buck is a Republican Representative of Las Animas County in Colorado. He was once a Senator of Colorado and a District Attorney. He is a member of 4 subcommittees. He supports Gun Rights, is against abortion and gay marriage.

Encrypt Act:
I think that Senator Ken Buck will vote against the bill that will allow government to access information from companies like Apple from clients phones. Buck has made previous statements during the USA Freedom Act of 2015, that "while protecting our national security it is most important and necessary to protect the rights of every American. He wants to prevent government overreach, and the Encrypt would be giving the government more access and power, which he clearly does not agree with.

Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Re-authorization Act:
The Republican party wants to reduce government involvement as much as possible, and to reduce government spending. By making the FAA an independent non profit entity, the government would not be putting money into that organization, and would save tax payer money. I think that Ken Buck would vote for this bill. He does not support the raising of taxes, and does not agree with tax payers money going into government organizations, so he would agree with this act.

Sentencing Reform Act:
I think that Ken Buck would support the Sentencing Reform Act. He supports saving money, and not raising taxes. The Reform Act would reduce the amount of prisoners money in his county, which would allow the money to be spent elsewhere.

Unit 3 Political Parties, Mass Media, Interest Groups

3/2/2016
"Never Trump" Movement
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-nomination.html?ref=topics&_r=0


Summary: The Republican Party is becoming more and more alarmed as the Presidential campaign continues. After Trump's big win during Super Tuesday, Republicans are now opening their eyes even more. Trump is clearly the front runner in the Republican party. He has gained more delegate votes than Rubio and Cruz, and has won more states than both of them as well. One of the Republican PAC's, called Principles PAC has released an ad called "Unelectable". This ad is meant to hit Trump hard, to attempt to expose him even more. Keep in mind this is being led by the Republican PAC organizations, and they are spending millions of dollars on just a few seconds on TV. Many Republican politicians have stated that they will not support Trump. They believe that if Trump is elected, their party name would be tainted, and many would believe their party now supports bigotry. Trump is now determined to win over Ohio and Florida. If he does so, the race for the other 3 candidates will most likely be over. To prevent this, Super PAC's who support Rubio in Florida, and Kasich in Ohio are spending millions of airtime on TV ad's against Trump. In hope that they will persuade enough voters in those areas to not vote for Trump. Previous Republican nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney, has recently spoken out about Trump as well. Stating how disruptive Trump would be to the Republican Party.

Analysis: The use of ad's and mass media greatly affect political campaigns. Candidates use the media to persuade the public. The public is extremely influenced by the media, and as technology increases, so does the use of TV ad's and social media. As we have seen in this political campaign, candidates like Trump have taken to social media's such as Twitter. Candidates do this to connect with the public. By connecting with the public they can raise their polling numbers. The reason for the "Unelecteable" ad that will be soon coming out onto TV is to try and ensure that Trump will be gain no more supporters. If this ad fails, it will be more likely that Trump will take this state as well. History shows that candidates who do not campaign and advertise well in certain states, usually lose that state. So it would be in Trump's best interest to campaign and rally more support before these ad's, in hope that he will not lose any supporters.

Unit 2 Blog Post Political Beliefs and Behaviors

2/21/2016
Terrorism and Economy are Top Concerns for Primary Voters
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/26/poll-watch-terrorism-and-the-economy-are-top-concerns-for-primary-voters/?ref=topics&_r=0

Summary: Before Iowa's caucuses took place a poll was taken to determine what likely primary voters think are the biggest issues today. Conservatives are most concerned about terrorism and foreign policy. Liberals are more concerned about the economy and creating jobs. But both parties agree that these are the biggest issues. Candidates such as Donald Trump are addressing certain issues to appeal more to the public's opinion.  Candidates use these polls to get more of an idea of what likely voters want, allowing the candidates to gain more support if they address the issues in a way that will appeal to the voters. Donald has been clear what his beliefs are about terrorism and how America should fight back, this has appealed to many people allowing him to gain support. Hillary Clinton has addressed how she would handle foreign policy, showing that more people trust her than Bernie Sanders when it comes to foreign policy. Although Bernie has many supporters who like his economic proposals. President Obama has supported Hillary throughout her campaign, but has tried to remain unbiased by supporting Bernie as well. Some say that by Obama showing a little more favoritism over Hillary has directed that to support her rather than Bernie.

Analysis: This article accurately described how polls are used by candidates to gain more supporters once they find out more about the public opinion. This poll was not entirely scientific, but what i would considered a straw poll. It was based around gaining the knowledge of the opinions of the people. This poll was not scientific because it was not entirely random. Only likely voters were asked what their opinion was about the most important issues that should be addressed. This poll does do a good job of showing the wide range of opinions between the two parties. The democrats were more focused on economy while conservatives were more focused on terrorism. This greatly affects what the candidates are doing during their campaign and how they will try to appeal to the public to gain more supporters                .