Is It Worth It?

During the partial government shutdown in 2013, many federal workers were paid retroactively, while others were never paid at all. This caused many problems for those who were not paid because they struggled to pay bills. An article from The Washington Post, talks about two women who struggled greatly through the government shutdown. They were both federal contractor employees who lost all pay during the shutdown. One woman could not pay her rent and had to move in with her mother and get a second job, while the other woman did not have enough money to pay her electricity bill.

With these fears still deep in the minds of those federal workers who lost so much pay, more worries rise now of yet another government shutdown. Some House Republicans are against providing funding for Planned Parenthood. If an agreement cannot be reached soon, there may very well be another government shutdown. Perhaps, one of the most frightening parts of a government shutdown is that federal workers do not really know how harsh the consequences will be until it actually happens. Shutdowns do not affect every federal worker the same. Some workers continue to work, and others are shut out of their job.

A reality of a (partial) government shutdown may happen again if Congress does not approve government funding before the deadline. John Tomlin, a Labor Department contractor said, “There’s a handful of hateful, stupid jerks in Congress who would do anything to advance their own personal agendas. They seem to have forgotten what their real job is.” The entire situation has caused much worry, anger, and stress on thousands of people.

 Obama and the administration have tweeted on the matter saying, “Congress needs to do their job” and making comments about taking away access to women’s healthcare.

 

Planned Parenthood has been the center of many discussions for a while now. While I am sure that everyone is aware of the reasons why people are so against it, check out one of my fellow classmate’s, Aspen Glanville, blog posts to catch up on the good things that PP offers. I think that she did an awesome job at relaying the “other side” of the story. http://aspenglanville.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-other-side-of-planned-parenthood.html#comment-form

Everyone will have his or her opinions on the matter. I understand that some will be against Planned Parenthood, and some will stand with Planned Parenthood. However, whatever your thoughts/opinions are of Planned Parenthood, I just have one question, “Is it worth another government shutdown?” A shutdown might not affect you directly or even indirectly, but it will affect countless others. Is it worth it?

Muslims and United States Presidents, Can They Be The Same?

I am sure we have all heard by now of Ahmed Mohamed and the incident with his clock. His story and what happened to him overtook social media and news outlets within hours and he was being supported from people all over, check out this BuzzFeed link that shares some of the people that reached out to Ahmed. http://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/teen-arrested-for-bringing-a-homemade-clock-to-school-now-ha#.kkBX5w62A

President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, Google Science Fair, Reddit, engineers from NASA, and the list goes on, all reached out to Ahmed asking to meet him, talking internships, jobs, and more. Ahmed thanked everyone for all the support, and posted a Tweet saying, “I really didn’t think people would care about a Muslim boy.” There have been arguments made that the school followed policy and that they had to ensure the safety of all children. People are opposing that argument by saying that if Ahmed would have been a white boy the situation would not have been escalated the way it did. And that the measures that resulted in Ahmed being arrested only happened so quickly because he is a Muslim and Muslims are associated with bombs and things of the like. Whatever your opinion on the matter is, I thought this story would be a great opener to discussing Muslims as presidents of the United States.

Over the weekend, Ben Carson made a comment saying that he does not think a Muslim is fit to be in the White House. However, he recently spoke on his comment by saying "I don't care what a person's religion beliefs are or religious heritage is, if they embrace our Constitution and are willing to place that above their religious beliefs, I have no problem with that." In a Facebook post this past Monday night Carson wrote “I could never support a candidate for President of the United States that was Muslim and had not renounced the central tenant of Islam: Sharia Law. Those Republicans that take issue with my position are amazing. Under Islamic Law, homosexuals – men and women alike – must be killed. Women must be subservient. And people following other religions must be killed. I know that there are many peaceful Muslims who do not adhere to these beliefs. But until these tenants are fully renounced…I cannot advocate any Muslim candidate for President.”

Carly Fiorina disagrees with Carson on the matter. She stated that in our constitution it says that religion cannot be a test for office. She also stated how she believes people of faith (any faith I am guessing since she did not specify) make better leaders. Bernie Sanders also publicly disagreed with Caron’s opinions. He brought up how the U.S. overcame prejudice with electing a Catholic (John F. Kennedy) and electing an African American (Barack Obama).

 

There have also been negative comments towards Obama saying that he is a Muslim. Obama has repeatedly stated that he practices the Christian faith, and the White House even released copies of Obama’s original birth certificate in an attempt to put the theories to rest concerning Obama’s place of birth. Trump was questioned on the matter and did not respond, which caused some uproar by some media sites. Trump took to Twitter to say how it was a no-win situation for him.

 

He also commented on how it was Hillary Clinton (supposedly, I am not sure if this holds any truth or not) that first started all the rumors of Obama being a Muslim.

Some people bring up separation of church and state, and say that as long as those who run our country have learned the difference between the two (church and state), religion should not be a factor in determining who can and cannot be president. What are everyone’s opinions on this? I am not at all offering my opinion, so please do not assume you know my opinions on this matter, this is just a really interesting subject to me and I am interested to know everyone else’s opinions as well. I do not want  tocause any trouble on my blog, but just some food for thought… I do not see anyone questioning Christians in positions of power. So, as long as it is the Christian religion then it is okay, but if it is a Muslim or other religions then it is wrong?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/22/politics/ben-carson-religious-beliefs-muslim/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-ben-carson-muslim-president_55ff3a2ae4b0fde8b0ceba6

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/09/22/carly-fiorina-tells-jimmy-fallon-carson-wrong-muslims-serving-president/72607754/

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-lets-comment-muslims-problem-us-slide/story?id=33847640

Who Is The Real Lair?

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned how the Club for Growth was also in the game to try and stop Donald Trump. Interestingly, just today Trump was tweeting about the Club for Growth in a negative light.  David McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth, said that "It’s astonishing that he’s even running as a Republican. Trump is the most liberal candidate on fiscal policy in the whole field, with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders. His angry style may reflect the deep frustration Americans have with Washington leaders who have failed to keep their promises. But the policies he’d implement would benefit himself and his own interests, not the American people. That makes him the worst kind of politician." The Club for Growth is hoping to expose Trump for the person he really is. The club believes that Trump has basically done nothing expect lie to the American people. They hsve created some ads that shine negativity on Trump. Trump states that everything that the club has said are lies. Check out this page that has the negative ads and a few bullet points of all the things the club believes Trump is doing wrong or has done wrong. http://www.clubforgrowth.org/trump-worst-kind-of-politician/

However, Trump is not letting those who oppose him forget where he is at in the polls, and how all efforts to destroy his campaign have failed. 

Are You Having Trouble Sleeping At Night?

Are you having trouble sleeping at night? If so, listen to Jeb Bush... at least that is what Donald Trump thinks anyways. Trump posted a video to his Instagram account 6 days ago. The video acts as an advertisement for those who have trouble sleeping at night, and it shows a clip of Jeb Bush giving a speech and a young woman falling asleep in the background. At least he is being creative with his ads, right?

https://instagram.com/p/7YV_u_mhWB/?taken-by=realdonaldtrump

Trump has also posted numerous other videos on his account concerning many different things and bashing the other candidates. He also posted a video about Jeb Bush's stance on illegal immigration. The video features pictures of illegal immigrants that have been charged and/or convicted of murder. I find this interesting, and it is just another way of trying to sway people's opinions, but it seems like the video is implying that all illegal immigrants are horrible people and that they will more than likely murder someone... umm what?

https://instagram.com/p/7DdvbEmhWG/?taken-by=realdonaldtrump

 If you have not ever looked at Donald Trump's Instagram account, please do! Whether you are for him, against him, loving him, and despise him, his account has some interesting posts, and some pretty outrageous posts that will surely entertain anyone!

Moreover, (you probably saw this coming) Jeb Bush has also uploaded videos that are negative towards Trump. Bush posted a video on his Instagram account of Trump, from years ago during an interview. Trump was asked “Then why are you a Republican?” And Trump responded with “I have no idea.” Bush captioned the video with something along the lines of “that is because you’re not [a Republican].

https://instagram.com/p/7FvjnLwEfz/?taken-by=jebbush

Social media has become such a prominent tool in today’s world. It is not just for our social entertainment anymore, but there are those who use it to promote their selves, their business, their campaign, etc. It is interesting (and entertaining!!!) to see how the presidential candidates interact with each other through social media and how they utilize the various sites to help promote their campaign. It really makes me think of how different elections were in the times before social media and the types of other media that we have today. If you have not seen the 1964 Johnson v. Goldwater television ad, “Peace Little Girl (Daisy)” then you must watch it!! It was one of the earliest television attack ads. We have come from the “Daisy Girl” ad, to the candidates themselves posting attacks on social media.

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/peace-little-girl-daisy

"This Great Nation Will Never TURN DOWN FOR WHAT"

Although this does not follow my usual theme, I just HAVE to share a video I came across today. I literally never watch cable television, so I do not keep up-to-date with these types of shows, but luckily, I saw this on one of my personal social media accounts. I have tried to always add a little bit of humor in my posts, because I think it makes them more interesting for my readers. I saw this video and I literally laughed so hard!! On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jeb Bush is a guest and "impersonates" Donald Trump. Check it out HERE!!!

Just in case the link does not open.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmGflkMYi5k

"How Can We Stop Trump?!"

Some of the Republican Party's biggest donors have started asking the question "How can we stop Donald Trump?" They believe that Trump is a threat to their party. There have been worries that Trump's harsh immigration stances and his actions toward women are going to ruin the Republican Party's chance of coming out on top in the elections. These worries are not just concerning the upcoming presidential elections, but possibly congressional and other elections as well. The problem is figuring out what to do about the perceived issue. There have already been several actions taken such as discussing the possibility of creating a super PAC to try to sway the conservatives' opinions on Trump and persuade them that Trump is “not one of them." However, one of the toughest problems is believed to be the issue of money and publicity. The way the Republican Party looks at it (at least those that share these same views) is that there is no amount of money that is going to be enough to stop Trump. Moreover, Trump is constantly all over the news and the media (he even gets talked about on my blog!!) that he does not plan for, which is just free publicity.

The New York Times also discusses the Club for Growth that has been trying to work against Trump's campaign. The Club for Growth has spent millions of dollars in the past to ensure that Republican campaigns that do not follow the traditional conservative traditions will fail at elections. However, on the issue of Trump, even the president of the club is at a blockade and is not sure what can be done to stop Donald Trump. The New York Times article goes into deeper detail and offers a lot of information on this subject. I encourage all my readers to check it out!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/us/politics/talk-in-gop-turns-to-a-stop-donald-trump-campaign.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1

Just today, Donald Trump posted a couple of tweets concerning similar topics that the article discusses. While I am not sure what ads Trump is referring to, it is clear that the ads hit him some kind of way especially if he is tweeting about it and somewhat trying to defend himself.

Just a couple of days before Trump posted his tweets I just mentioned, Jeb Bush tweeted about Trump. "Trump is trying to insult his way to the Presidency and it's not going to work..." Which is what The New York Times article basically discusses. Some believe that Trump is making the entire Republican Party look bad. The counterargument, in short, is that Trump is speaking on the government issues that the people are pissed about. He "knows" the people's anger, and he is not afraid to speak on those issues.

I am just sitting over wondering why Trump and Bush are not @'ing each other? Nobody likes a sub-tweeter, and if you are going to mention someone's name, at least @ them, right? That sure would be a lot more interesting.