Loretta Lynch sworn in as new U.S. attorney general

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/national-politics/20150427-loretta-lynch-sworn-in-as-new-u.s.-attorney-general.ece

Loretta Lynch was sworn in Monday as the attorney general. She is the 83rd attorney general and is the first African-American woman to serve as the attorney general. Lynch said this in reference to the recent police and minority incidents, "We can imbue our criminal justice system with both strength and fairness, for the protection of both the needs of victims and the rights of all. We can restore trust and faith both in our laws and in those of us who enforce them."  Joe Biden sworn her in he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time — it's about time this woman is being sworn in." 

This has to do with AP Gov because AP Gov is a history class and by being the first African American female attorney general she is making history. This also has to do with AP Gov because it talks about how we appoint our officials. 

U.S. drone strike accidentally killed 2 hostages

On Thursday Obama said, a U.S. counterterrorism operation targeting an al Qaeda compound in January accidentally killed two innocent hostages, including one American. Obama gave this statement Thursday morning, "As president and as commander in chief, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni." 

We have already learned about some of the jobs the President has. One of these jobs in commander in chief and this article talks a lot about his role as commander in chief. 

Video of Encounter That Led to South Carolina Police Shooting Is Released

By Alan Blinder

April 9, 2015

       This article was about the murder of Walter Scott. Walter Scott was killed by Officer Michael T. Slager on Thursday, April 9th. The video was recorded on a camera inside the officers patrol car. It was released by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. The officer was charged with murder and was fired. This video does not show Walter Scott being shot all it shows is him fleeing after being stopped for a broken taillight. But there was a later video taken by a bystander showing the shooting of Walter Scott. Mr. Scott had a long court record and his survivors fought he may have fled because of a pending warrant. 

        We will learn about this when we talk about police brutality in America and around the world. We will probably learn about the differences between punishments for police brutality in America and in other countries. People in America believe that police brutality needs to be taken as a more serious issue than it is now. 

     I think the video clearly shows who the murder is. I think that this is a terrible situation that needs to be handle very well. 

Should the US government force citizens to vote?

http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0319/Should-the-US-government-force-citizens-to-vote-video

On Wednesday, after a town hall meeting in Cleveland, Ohio Obama wanted to make voting mandatory. The Secretary of State from New Hampshire does not like this idea. Obama wants to counteract the role of money in politics. Obama said, "That would counteract money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country, because the people who tend not to vote are young; they're lower income; they're skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups; and they're often the folks who are – they're scratching and climbing to get into the middle class. And they're working hard, and there’s a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls.  We should want to get them into the polls." New Hampshires Secretary of State believes voting is a right to be excersied by not forced.  

I agree with Nee Jampshires Secretary of State because voting is a right. Of voting become mandatory than it will become a duty. Also we will have many people complain about it because you have to pay when you register to vote. 

Poll: Clinton strong; Bush has work to do

By Eric Bradner, CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/politics/poll-hillary-clinton-jeb-bush-2016-election/index.html

       A new poll shows that in the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton will be in a better position to win over Jeb Bush. The NBC News polls show that Hillary Clinton has 44% of registered voters liking her and 36% not liking her. Jeb Bushs numbers show that 23% of people view him possibly and 34% view him negatively. The poll involved 1,000 adults and was before Hillary Clintons scandal about her emails. Clinton is likely to address this issue later in the week but for now she has said nothing. Hillary Clinton has the highest number of Democrats pulling for her while Rubio has the highest number or Republicans and Jeb Bush is in third. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker faces only 17% percent restriction which is 9% less than Rubio and 25% less than Bush. 

       This relates to AP U.S. Government and Politics because we will be learning about what it takes to elect a president. This includes things like the electoral college and majorities. We will also learn about the differences between Democrats and Republicans and the demographics of there voters. Also we will learn a lot about the Bush an Clinton family. 

South Korean police investigate attacker's links to North Korea

By K.J. Kwon

Full Article

        On Thursday morning a man that opposed joint South Korean-U.S. military drills attacked well known American ambassador in Seoul. Kim Ki-Jong, a 55 year old man attacked Mark Lippert, with a knife. This happened just before Mr. Lippert had to give a speech. Mark Lippert had to undergo two hours of surgery getting 80 stitches to his face. He said to remain hospitalized for 3 to four days. Also if the cut was just an inch deeper the injury could have been life threatening. Kim Ki-Jong has done something like this before. In 2010 he was sent to prison for 2 years for throwing concert at a Japanese ambassador to South Korea. The South Korean President said, "This incident is not only a physical attack on the U.S. ambassador, but an attack on the South Korea-U.S. alliance and it can never be tolerated."

       I think that this just a terrible situation. A U.S. ambassador should be safe were ever they go. We will learn about these situations when we talk about the criminal system and attacks on U.S. ambassadors, and higher up executives. We will also learn about U.S. ambassadors in further classes.

14 things Obama might veto next

By Kevin Liptak, CNN

Wed February 25, 2015

Full Article

        This article was about all of the things Obama is vetoing and will veto. President Obama rejected the Keystone pipeline bill Tuesday. Since the Republicans have the majority in Congress, they are making a long list of bills, that would never happen if Congress was controlled by the Democrats. Making Obama, in turn, say he is gonna veto a lot of things. The White House threats to reject 15 items including the Keystone pipeline bill, 2 restricting abortions: Pain-Capable Unborn Clid Protection Act and the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and many more. Most of the bills have already passed the House of Representatives and are just waiting for the Senate.
        We will learn about this stuff this year. We will learn about the process for something to become a bill and then a law later on. We will also see how the president can veto things and what the Senate and House of Representatives have to do with all of this.

Florida primary date shift could boost Bush

By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN

Full Article

     This article was about Jeb Bush and Florida. One Florida lawmaker wants to push the stats's primary back two weeks. This could help Gov. Jeb Bush if he goes head to head over Sen. Marco Rubio. Sen. Richter wants to make a bill that will move the primary from March 15 to March 1.  Florida want get any penalties if they hold their primary on March 1 because the Republican National Committee will allow them to. Sen. Rubio in 2008 and 2012 wanted to move the primary back earlier than the RNC will allow. 

      We will learn about this shortly I bet. Because we are kind of learning about it now. We are learning about primaries and caucus now. So this relates. This article was not biased. I don't think it could really be biased. 

2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia

By Mark Preston, CNN

Full Article

The article I read was about the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Philadelphia will be hosting the Democratic National Convention in 2016. The two other cities that really wanted the convention to be held there was New York and Columbus, Ohio. The Republican party said there convention for 2016 will be held in Cleveland. The last time Philadelphia hosted a National Presidential Convention was in 2000 for the Republican candidate George W. Bush. This event should cost Philadelphia 60 million dollars, but the payout can be triple that. Debbie Wasserman Schults said that last year they got 150 to 200 million dollars back for the city.

We have been learning a little bit about politics and political parties this week. So I think that we will be learning about the Republican and Democratic National Convention in a few days. We will also learn about the impact of what the National Convention does for the cities it is held in. 

After Staff Shake Up, Who Will Turn Off Lights At Obama's White House?

By Jim Acosta, Senior White House Correspondent

Full Article

       

        With the end of Obama's presidential term ending, people are wondering who will be there his last days of administration. Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser from Obama's first campaign and Communications Director Jennifer Palmeri leaving in early March, it will leave Denis McDonough, White House Chief of Staff with a lot of jobs to fill. Also John Podesta, Counselor to the President will be leaving mid-February. Brain Deese is supposed to get Podesta's job when he quits. Also since Ebola is ending a little bit, Ron Klain, Obama's Ebola Response Coordinator, is supposed to leave the White House on February 15. With all of these changes there are still many people staying until the end of Obama's administration. 

        In later classes we will talk about the president. We will talk about all of his duties as president which include: Head of State, Chief Executive, Chief Ambassador, Party Leader, and more. One of the presidents duties is to choose his staff. We will talk about what will happen if he fires or one of his Cabinet members quits.

        I think when Obama choose his staff he should have made better chooses. I think that he should have made them promise that they would not quit midway through his last term as president. Even though he has no more campaigns to run and his presidency is over he still needs a good supporting staff behind him for his remaining time.

First lady Michelle Obama shakes hands with Saudi king. So?

Full Article

        In America it may seem normal for people to shake hands, but in other countries its a whole  different story.  On January 27, President Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, went to Saudi Arabia to greet the new king of Saudi Arabia, King Salman bin Abdulaziz. Saudi Arabia is a country that follows the Islamic law, and this law usually forbids men from touching women who are not in their family. But sometimes this rule can change when it has to do with the king. On Tuesday,when the  President and the First Lady arrived, Mrs. Obama had both of her hands holding on to a purse in front of her. She did this so that when she was being introduced to the new king and all of the other men she would wait for them to try and shake her hand before she shook theirs. But if they did not shake her hand than she would just smile at them. The article also states how Mrs. Obama hugged the Queen of England even though she is not supposed to be touched and how Mr. Obama bowed to the Japanese Emperor.           
       In later classes we will talk about the duties of the President. One of his duties is being the head of state. As the head of state his job is to be a symbol for the U.S., this includes him welcoming foreign leaders, attend festivities of national importance, tosses the first pitch of the baseball season, and presents medals and awards for national service.         
        I think Mrs. Obama did the right thing by waiting for the men to initiate the hand shake. I think it would be rude if she just held out her hand because if they did not shake it, it might make them look bad. But if they did shake her hand than it would be breaking the Islamic law they follow. If my religion would not allow me to do something than I would not want others to put me in a place were I have to chose between my religion or how people are going to view me.