Normalizing Relations with Cuba

The White House made the decision to normalize relations with Cuba.  The embargo that kept the U.S. from having any relations with Cuba for over 50 years is finally dwindling as public polls show favor for it.  More than a decade ago a poll was taken and two-thirds of Americans favored moderate relations with Cuba.  Secretary of State John Kerry will be the first in his position to visit the country in over 60 years.  Soon, Talks with Cuban president, Raul Castro, will begin about opening a U.S. embassy.  Republican representatives like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are against Obama's move on Cuba.  Rubio said that the consequences of the this act will be the growth of power for the Castro family.  

ISIS: U.S. vs. Iran and an Iraq that does not care

Iranians have abandoned their secretive military operations and bombed Iraq openly.  they used 1970s jet-planes.  They are not openly saying that they are allies with the U.S. but rather they are expanding their shiite influence into the sunni dominated iraq. Different areas of the middle east show their support for Iran's military operations.  The U.S. worries that Iran's  Shiite military involvment will deepen sectarian divisions, and make themselves unappealing to Sunnie Iraqi's in the region.  Iraqi leaders have often been faster to help with the fighting than the U.S. operations.  In the same way they view Iranian forces that did not step into the fight against ISIS or ISIL when they attacked Baghdad.  Iranians see Obama's letter as weak and if they would have written a letter of the same fashion to them to tell them of their caution to intervene with the ISIS conflict, they would have deemed themselves weak too. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/world/middleeast/iran-airstrikes-hit-islamic-state-in-iraq.html?_r=0

Too Much Law Enforcement and Too Little Crimes

Citizens of New York are in uproar after the police officer who killed Eric Garner was not indicted.  Protests like those of Ferguson formed in the streets of New York.  The police officer was accused of having murdered the 43 year old Garner through a tactic learned in the police academy but which many people claimed it was a choke hold.   In the video of the incident the officer who brought the man down to the ground with the help of other officers deliberately jumped on him and used his weight to bring him down. The grand jury decision has caused the country to go into major unrest because it is the latest in a series of incidents in which Caucasian police kill unarmed black men and have not been convicted of murder.  It has been an ongoing trend that has diminished the public's trust in peace officers.  President Obama addressed the issue in a general manner by stating that the events of Ferguson and New York are extremely unfortunate.  He wishes for the relations of the public and law enforcement to mend because there is a stigma that has been created towards police officers.  They are the enforcers of law and without them there could be chaos.  Reading articles from about a year ago, I remember how the Stop and Frisk policy worked superbly at bringing down crime, but after a while police officers were frisking the same individual on multiple occasions.  The problem may be with the allocation of officers and the fact that they have nothing better to do.  The article shows clips of the video in which it can be seen a dozen officers at the seen.  Is America headed in the direction of being a police state?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2014/12/03/8dc55084-7b2b-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html

Billionaires Unite to Avert Averages for Better Health Policy

 While the suburban citizens of countries from this region of the Americas hit the gym to burn fat, indigenous citizens struggle to properly nourish themselves and their young ones.  The article implies that legislators use averages to form health policies that displace a large part of the population that lives in poverty. Billionaires Bill Gates and Carlos Slim united with local governments of central american countries to help develop better health policies to target its less fortunate constituents. In 2010 Health surveys were taken to record the disparities of the poorest of the poor in Central America.  The collaboration created a programme called Salud Mesoamerica that gives  incentives to countries like Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica and Panama to write and implement health policies geared toward improving the health of the poorer parts of their population.  

http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21633944-alliance-billionaires-and-bureaucrats-makes-difference-misleading-means

No Progress Without Congress

President Obama is dominating immigration headlines with his executive action, which is intended to relieve nearly half of the undocumented immigrant population.  With nearly 6 million individuals left out of Mr. Obama's plan, it is clear that the president's executive powers fall short without the help of congress;the legislative body of the government.  The order is predicted to boost the economy by 6.8 billion dollars and create 160,000 jobs.  Critics of the order do not think it goes far enough to change the H1B visas from its 65,000 visas a year for foreign high tech-skilled workers.  Others like the Center for Immigration Studies thinks that adding 5 million immigrants to the work force think that it is unfair for citizens who have not found jobs since the Great Recession.  Small businesses are all for an immigration overhaul because they will benefit from the low-skilled foreigners.  Over all there will be more obvious change with a reform of the entire immigration system.  Passed like Senate Bill 774 failed to pass through the House of Representatives, so the struggle continues for a large scale immigration reform.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/obama-immigration-plan-good-not-great-for-economy/2014/11/22/5a4bbb96-7250-11e4-a2c2-478179fd0489_story.html

republican reaction to exec order

Executive order is under way and Republicans are not to far from December  when a another government shutdown may occur due to spending on the president's order.  Republicans, though have not stepped down, but rather stepped up to Obama's threat because they are not willing to be blamed for another shutdown.  They have declared that Congress will use all of the power it holds to defer any funding to the president's order.  In this manner, They will attempt to keep some of their pride and dignity, which they have revamped since their triumph of 31 seats in the senate.  Political attitudes for an immigration reform are mixed within the republican party. Some are voicing against certain measure that are going to be proposed by the president in his executive actions on Thursday November 20th.  others have omitted any comments, like governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, because he will take a stance once he decides whether to join the 2016 race for president.  others like the Governor of Ohio, John R. Kasich, have openly stated that they are not against the idea.  All in all, Republicans have joined in their attitudes despite their celebrations of their victory on election day just 16 days ago.  The agree that there needs to be an immigration reform and that they will deal with undocumented immigrants in a fair way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/us/politics/-2014-11-20-us-republican-governors-seethe-over-obamas-immigration-move.html

executive order for about four to five million undocumented immigratns

Last week, President Obama announced of an executive order that would bring relief of deportation and work permits to millions of undocumented.  This has brought backlash from the Republican party and they have promised to do everything in their power to counter Mr. Obama's order.   Aside from the drama and politics among both parties, the executive order is definitely going to be signed.  Some of the shortcomings of the executive order will be expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to parents of D.R.E.A.M.ers, who will only possibly deferred from deportation, but not given work permits.  What will happen with D.A.C.A. is that the age limit will possibly be lifted and/or the education requirement will be lifted.  Healthcare will not be available to immigrants as it was also stated in S.B. 774 of 2013, but it will be available to the American born children of immigrants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/us/politics/obamacare-unlikely-for-undocumented-immigrants.html?_r=0

Documenting a New Landscape for the Undocumented

As the landscape of undocumented immigrants is being evened out, the number of immigrants living in the shadows is dwindling as well.  This is painting a different perspective on the group of 11 million or so. A new study done by the Pew Research Center, "found that half of nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants have lived here for at least 13 years and as many as 4 million have U.S.-born children." This is good news for the parents of those U.S.-born children because they might benefit from President Obama's plan on immigration.  An executive order much like DACA--Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals--could bring temporary relieve about 36% of the immigrant population.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/illegal-immigrants-more-likely-to-have-lived-in-the-us-for-over-a-decade/2014/09/03/50f70120-3382-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html

Illiberal Regime: Democracy, Afghanistyle

On September 27, The Economist the published an article titled: Democracy, Afghan-style.  It talked about changes happening the executive branch in the country of Afghanistan.  Elections in June fell under investigation after the losing candidate, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, claimed fraud on behave of his opponent Ashraf Ghani.  The investigation was overseen by the United Nations and the results were not made public, so it can be assumed that fraud was committed by both parties.  Like any other illiberal regime--which is how Afghanistan can be categorized--it appears to be a democracy on paper, but whose practices are questionable.

<http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21620242-deal-between-two-presidential-candidates-share-power-best-outcome>.

Ebola Strikes The Lone Star State

Thomas Duncan was a Liberian American who contracted the Ebola virus and died on October 8, 2014.  this has caused initiative to take measures to screen airline passengers after their arrival to the U.S.  Duncan was questioned for symptoms and found to be free of any, so they sent him home.  He was admitted into a Dallas hospital in Texas after feeling symptoms and seeking help there.  Would he have been hospitalized early on from his arrival to the country, he would have had a better fighting chance.  President Obama has pushed for the screenings to be exercised in 5 of the major international airlines that travel to areas in Africa that have a high concentration of contamination of Ebola--Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/first-ebola-patient-in-us-dies-as-officials-announce-new-airport-screening-measures/2014/10/08/cfc95670-4f15-11e4-aa5e-7153e466a02d_story.html

Nigeria's Actions Contain Ebola

Ebola has become a notorious virus that has become synonymous with the word death.  Any person that becomes infected with the virus dies within a short time span.  Nigeria, one of Africa's most populous countries, recently had an outbreak of the virus.  This is cause for alarm given that countries like Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have not been able to placate the fatal illness. Nigeria has surprisingly accomplished such feat by working with such organizations such as “the Health Ministry, the C.D.C., the World Health Organization, Unicef, Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee for the Red Cross.” (NYTimes)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/health/ebola-outbreak-in-nigeria-appears-to-be-over.html?_r=1

People's Republic of China New Leader on Mission to Promote Self.

The President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, is acquiring much popularity.  He has become the popular guy.  He has almost reached the type of popularity that  Mao Zedong had when he was chairman of PRC.  All this popularity is thanks to a secret committee that Mr. Xi has brought about to promote himself.  He is making an effort to build his reputation being that he is the paramount leader and because he intends to shadow his rough start as president of the republic.  He is making efforts to stop corruption and to do this he needs to reform policies that would allow him to monopolize power.  This will allow him to dismantle monopolies of the state that have too much power and give room to checks and balances. Is the People's Republic of China slowly headed towards the path of democracy?

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21618780-most-powerful-and-popular-leader-china-has-had-decades-must-use-these-assets-wisely-xi

ISIS

The Long Haul

President’s words on the eve of 9/11 were words that proposed cautious action in the middle east, but will his plan be successfully executed?  For this to happen some of the chaos has to cease in order for America to act as a leader for a coalition against IS.

                Obama has been wrong about Iraq when “downplaying” the threat of IS, but time has turned his judgment around.  Now, time is what Obama need the chaos to subside.  It is, though, a double edged sword.  In one hand, time can rebuild Iraq and Syria as countries and give time to build an army to break down IS.  On the other hand, time can also break the loose coalition by resurgence of rivalries in the area and this will make the U.S. lose legitimacy.  

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21616955-americas-plan-decent-onebut-it-will-take-worryingly-long-time-bear-fruit-long-haul

An Attempt at Uniting States With a Divided Congress

President Obama attempted to united the nation and congress in his speech on the eve of the 13th anniversary of 9/11 by "degrading and ultimately destroying" the ISIS with Airstrikes and International Coalitions.  Rep. McConnell and Sen. Reid seem to validate Obama's strategy, but with midterm elections two months away, a bipartisan union was unlikely to happen.  Sen. Reid is more than supportive with the president's strategy to avoid any actions that might have severe reprecussions, but was quick to criticize Rep. McConnell on taking advise from Former Vice President Cheyney.  McConnell responded to Reid by saying that he simply "urged to pivot" to a more military robust and forward leaning stance because Airstrikes and a few hundred troops are not enough to get the job done.  Reid's rhetoric might be an attempt to "obscure" the public from the complex debate despite lawmakers belief that airstrikes wont suffice.  Rep McConnell warns Obama not to "manage" the threat and pass it on to his "successor", but there has been no president from either party who has successfully eliminated such terrorist threats.  It might be that midterms are around the corner and the nation has a serious foreign issue on the table, but the real truth is that complete elimination of any terrorist group such as ISIS is improbable due to "factors out of U.S. control".  Anthony Cordesman from CISS painted a reality that President Obama is "preparing" the nation with the idea that such groups ISIS is a problem to be resolved not by his presidency alone but possibly a next as well.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0910/Islamic-State-strategy-Divisions-in-Congress-surface-ahead-of-Obama-s-speech\

AFL-CIO President on Hillary and Obama Executive Action on Immigration

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2014/0828/AFL-CIO-leader-Hillary-needs-a-primary-Obama-needs-bold-action

When taking a look at the article by David Cook from The Christian Science Monitor, I took into question whether the article was going to be worthwhile and present information I did not already know.
Upon clicking on the tab for politics in the USA, I stumbled upon this article titled, "AFL-CIO leader: Hillary needs a primary, Obama needs bold action".  A feeble amount of information was appealing to my interest being that I update myself on immigration news regularly and am well aware that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been people approved to run as Democratic candidate for  POTUS 2016.

Nonetheless, I assured myself that the article would spark a sense of satisfaction of knowing what has been picking up dust in the political arena these past few days.  Cook starts off by stating how saying how AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka "praises" Clinton and would endorse her come due time, but at the moment was not going to commit himself to such an early compromise, and just recognizes that she is a qualified candidate.

Trumka does this for two reasons. The first is that any selection of one particular candidate can be “dangerous” because it is too early to tell and that any presidential candidate needs to build a grassroots campaign base. Trumka wants to seek out potential candidates to see what kind of economic team the candidate would build for the organization.

As for Obama, Cook writes that Trumka noted the the president had two ways to use his executive powers. The first was to make a bold move on immigration would be affirmative action for workers to come out of the shadows, but that would make the right wing very unstable.  The mild move would be to do anything less and "energize the right but not the center or left.