Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison

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Michael Cohen recently has been sentenced to 3 years in prison after he was found to have made violating campaign finance laws with making hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. Cohen had made a heartfelt apology to a crowd in the courtroom as he admitted to and apologized for his actions in covering up Donald Trump's "dirty deeds". He stated that he was blinded by loyalty to Trump that impaired his judgement according to him. Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani stated after Cohen's conviction that he was a "serial liar" and that he was sorry for him. After his sentencing, Trump came out and said that the payments made to Stormy Daniels was not in violation of campaign finance laws as he believes they were just "a simple private transaction"

1) Do you think that Cohen's admitting to campaign finance violations be a potential lead to Trump's impeachment? Why or why not?

2) Do you think Cohen's sentence was fair or do you think it was too lenient or too harsh, seeing as he is willing to help Mueller against Trump as atonement?

Yemen War Power Resolution

The Senate passed a resolution on the 13th of December to withdraw U.S. support for Saudi-backed forces at war in Yemen in a rare bipartisan rebuke to President Donald Trump. The resolution, led by Senators Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee, and Chris Murphy, invokes the War Powers Act and passed in a 56-41 vote. The resolution was proposed back in March, but it failed at the time, and was revived due to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It’s the first time the Senate has voted to withdraw forces from a war Congress didn't approve. The war in Yemen, and US support for the Saudi-led effort actually began during the Obama administration. But President Trump has moved the US even closer to Saudi Arabia as part of his administration’s broader Middle East policy, which largely focuses on countering Iran. The Senate resolution is a major step toward holding the administration accountable and resting back some control of war powers from the executive branch. Yet it’s still a long way away from actually ending US support for the Saudis in Yemen, or finding a resolution to the conflict altogether. The senate's passage of the resolution shows that the lawmakers of this country are scrutinizing the Trump administration's Saudi policy.

Questions: How will this affect the Trumps adminstrations relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Texas Judge Strikes Down the Affordable Care Act as Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON - On December 14, 2018, Judge O'Connor of the Federal District Court in Texas struck down Obamacare, declaring its individual mandate requiring Americans to have a basic level of health coverage, to be unconstitutional. The federal judge in Texas found that since a 2017 tax bill removed the fine for remaining uninsured, the individual mandate was now unconstitutional. It was originally upheld in the Supreme Court as a “tax,” but without a penalty, it cannot be considered so. 

This ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of Republican governors and state generals but has faced opposition from many intervening Democratic states, promising to appeal the decision. Although there may not be an immediate effect, it will certainly make its way to the Supreme Court, threatening the survival of a landmark Healthcare law. The White House has assured the public that the Affordable Care Act will remain in effect while the ruling is being appealed. 

Responding to the ruling on Saturday, Donald Trump declared, "Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/health/obamacare-unconstitutional-texas-judge.html

1. Will Judge O'Connor's decisions to strike down the ACA be overturned on appeal? Will Congress pass a new healthcare law during the Trump Administration if the Affordable Care Act is not overturned on appeal?

2. Is is possible to strike down the individual mandate while keeping all of the good provisions of the ACA?

3. Why is Donald Trump calling for a new law that protects preexisting conditions when there already a provision in the Affordable Care Act?

Dems, White House refuse to budge over border wall as Friday shutdown looms

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dems-white-house-refuse-to-budge-over-border-wall-as-friday-shutdown-looms

Today, it was reaffirmed that president Donald Trump will allow a partial shutdown of the federal government if congress does not fund the $5 billion necessary to complete the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump does not have enough votes in the house, nor the senate to continue building the wall. Even though the House is majority Republican, they still do not support the use of this much money into border security. Congress has offered less funding for security and fencing, but not a wall. To complete Trump's plan for border security it would require not just a physical barrier, but technology, enforcement, and altering of laws. The president seems to refuse no as an answer, and will confidently go through with a shutdown on Friday if congress refutes the $5 billion. In the start of 2019, there will be many debates on how to handle the project and funding from the government. There will be an attempt to find compromise on the bill to satisfy both Trump's plan and congress's abilities. 

Question:

1. Do you think threatening and even enforcing a government shutdown will help Trump succeed in receiving the $5 billion from congress?

Death at Border Patrol raises questions about immigration policy

Recently, a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died from dehydration and an overwhelming amount of feelings after being taken into the custody of Border Patrol. Like many other migrant families that try to settle in the United States, the girl, her father, and ~160 other people were taken into custody. Congressman Joaquin Castro, who identifies as a Democrat in the state of Texas, argues that Trump's immigration policies are the reasons why getting caught crossing the border can be unforgiving. On the other hand, many people believe that the structure of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is lacking.

Looking at the series of events leading up to the outcome of the situation, one can say that Trump's immigration policies are the cause of poor structure within CBP. Ever since Trump stepped into residency, there has been an increasing trend of migrant arrest at the border and it's because of the strict immigration policy that allowed the situation of illegal migrants to evolve. CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan argues that Border Patrol stations were made for single persons but are now outdated and don't support holding families. Not to mention, overcrowding can lead to the lack of distribution of provisions among families and unsanitary conditions.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claim that the lack of structure of the CBP shows transparency within the organization. The girl's death also brings light to the lack of funding the Customs and Border Protection receives. To prevent these types of problems from happening in the future, the president wants to ban people that ask for asylum if they enter the country illegally. However, while the federal appeals court blocked the ban, Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme court to reverse this order.

QUESTIONS:

1. In the wake of the incident, what do you think the government should do to prevent deaths at the border from happening?
2. Are Trump's immigration policies too harsh towards immigrants? Why?

SOURCES:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/7-year-old-migrant-girl-taken-into-border-patrol-custody-dies-of-dehydration-exhaustion/2018/12/13/8909e356-ff03-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.13cf9940fd8f

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/14/676686305/rep-joaquin-castro-on-death-of-7-year-old-migrant-girl

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/autopsy-set-for-7-year-old-migrant-girl-who-died-in-border-custody

Possible voter fraud in North Carolina

On Tuesday, November 27th, the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement initiated an investigation into possible voter fraud in North Carolina's 9th district. Democrat Dan McCready had conceded to Republican Mark Harris, despite a difference of only 900 votes, or 0.4%. The decision begin an investigation was bipartisan and unanimous, a rarity in the current times.

Currently, the main focus of the investigation is absentee voting, which is when voters send in ballots through mail or other means, from their home. Two accusations point towards Bladen County official Leslie McCrae Dowless, Jr., who went door-to-door collecting ballots, allegedly working for Harris. Not only is transportation of ballots by non-famiy members illegal in North Carolina, but more serious accusations have also been leveled. Voters claim that Mr. Dowless's team collected ballots that were incomplete, and told voters that "the rest wasn’t important and [they] would fill it out [themselves]." Although this action could have had no impact or been innocent, it's at odds with Mr. Dowless claim that he "operated within the bounds of the law." In addition, there was an usually low return rate of ballots in some districts, especially those with high population of african-americans. Return rate of ballots is the comparison between how many absentee ballots were requested and how many were received.

Jeneva Legions was approached by a woman asking for

her absentee mail-in ballot in Bladenboro.

As far as possible impacts of this investigation, it will not much change the overall result of the midterms. The House is already Democratic, and by enough of a margin that this election going democratic would not have a huge impact. However, from a political standpoint, this issue highlights the straw-man nature of the repeated voter fraud claims from the republican party. It's ironic that after so many unsubstantiated claims from the republican party, and especially Mr. Trump, about voter fraud, a legitimate case of voter fraud would possibly be perpetrated by the republican party.

Questions:
It seems like voter fraud has come up more in the public headspace in recent years. Is this because of a legitimate increase in voter fraud? Or is the political climate more to blame? Was voter fraud not mentioned in the past because of blind optimism, or realism?

Mr. Trump and the republican party has been greatly focused on voter fraud in recent years. Should Mr. Dowless action's undermine Mr. Trump's claims? Or are they independent and unrelated?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/politics/north-carolina-nine-certify/index.html
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/04/673472144/house-republicans-hacked-voter-fraud-allegations-in-north-carolina
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/north-carolina-election-fraud-investigation-centers-on-operative-with-criminal-history-who-worked-for-gop-congressional-candidate/2018/12/03/7b270a90-f6aa-11e8-8c9a-860ce2a8148f_story.html?utm_term=.753c43e8708d

Midterm Election results continue to come in days after polls close

Even though the final polls closed on Tuesday night, results continue to pour in from around the United States. States such as Arizona, Georgia, and Florida report that there are still outstanding ballots needed to be counted. In these three states, both gubernatorial and senatorial races are within the margin created by the votes yet to be counted.
Early Friday, Arizona Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema gained a slight lead over Martha Mcsally. If Sinema holds her lead of Mcsally, she would give the Democrats their first Senate seat that was taken back from the Republicans. This victory would narrow the Republicans majority in the Senate and make it more likely that the chamber could be flipped in the 2020 election.
Elections in both Florida and Georgia have become the focus of both parties after accusations of voter suppression and election fraud have become more relevant due to razor thin margins. In Georgia, voting rights activists have claimed Brian Kemp's purging of voter rolls could have suppressed some votes. Democrats are also hoping that enough votes could come in to bring his margin below 50% and force a mandatory runoff election. In Florida, Conservatives have called foul due to votes pouring in from Broward County and Palm Beach County. Many of these votes have favored Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson.
Regardless of the result of these races, these close margins and controversy regarding access to voting and election fraud will call additional attention to the broader discussion about issues such as voter ID laws and recount procedures.

Questions:
What impact do you think Georgia's voter registration laws had on the result of the election there?
What precautions should be instituted to make sure voting is accessible to all eligible citizens but also defend the legitimacy of our polls?