4 million 17 year olds will turn 18 before november, therefore making them eligible to vote. These 4 million teenagers can literally change the fate of America. Who knows what could happen with another 4 years of Trump. In 2016 Hillary won the popular vote by almost 3 million and that still wasn't enough. These 17 year olds have to take action and register the vote. As Joe Biden said on his twitter, we must ignore the polls and register to vote. Hillary was the heavy favorite going into the 2016 election and we all know what happened. 4 million votes does not seem like a lot, but when you take into account how close this election is supposed to be it can make a huge difference. Having Trump in office for another four years will be catastrophic, knowing that he doesn't have to worry about his approval rating and re election he will do whatever he wants. He will ruin our nation.
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Whoever Joe Biden chooses as his running mate could make or break his presidential bid. This could be one of the most important VP picks in recent history. Many names have been thrown out for who people believe that Biden should pick, but there are only a few select people that I believe will really push the Biden campaign forward and give it that boost that it needs. Biden has already said that he will choose a woman as his running mate and it is very likely that he will follow through with that promise. There are three women who I believe that Biden should pick. The first person that I believe could help Biden is Kamala Harris. She herself ran for president in the early stages of the 2020 election but then dropped out knowing that her chances were very slim. Always conducted herself with the utmost respect and held her own on the debate stage. She is a phenomenal speaker and agrees with Biden on most political issues. Pence would not be able to handle his own with Harris on the debate stage, She would tear him apart. This pick would also satisfy the people who want Biden to select a woman of color for the ticket. This next person I do not think that Biden should pick but I could see it happening. This is Elizabeth Warren. I could see him picking her because of the large support that she had during the democratic primary. They do see almost eye to eye on major political issues and get along just fine. I do not think she would be the best possible pick for Biden because lots of his supporters would like him to pick a woman of color. Warren does have lots of experience on Capital Hill and seemed to have a plan for almost everything during the democratic race, I just don’t think her voter appeal is there. The final possible running mate for Biden is an underdog. Her name is Keisha Lance Bottoms, she is the mayor of Atlanta. She made her first national appearance during the protest in Atlanta and every since then she has been loved. An amazing speaker who is constantly advocating for BLM and social injustice. Many of her political stances are unknown besides the fact that she is a democrat. She could do for Biden what McCain was hoping Palin could do for him. She has that high upside capability. All three of these possibilities have their positives and negatives. It should be very interesting to see who Biden picks if any of these. This choice could make or break Biden’s presidential hopes.
40 prisoners, 520 million dollars in taxpayer money. Guantanamo bay is infamous for tourture and abuse towards their prisoners and yet Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it open indefinitely. Why? A recent whistleblower report came out stating that the financial reports saying that Guantanamo bay costs 520 million taxpayer money is false and that it is actually over 1 billion dollars. Now this has not been confirmed by the government so we should not go off of that. The president claims that it would be too dangerous to transport these prisoners but that just isn't true. How would it be dangerous to transport them to a maximum security prison if the only people told are high ranking officials and the people who will be transporting them. Having prisoners from Guantanamo Bay at a maximum security would just make so much more sense. It would save about 500 million dollars and since it is on US soil there are many more rules in regulations to combat against the torture that goes on there. In 2004 Guantamo Bay was accused of torture such as solitary confimenet, extreme temperatures and even forced positions. In 2003 alone there were 350 incidents of self harm. In late 2003 23 detainees tried to hang themselves. This kind of stuff does not go on at normal high security prisons, and to be honest no one really knows what goes on at Guantanamo Bay. It is doing much more harm then it is good. I believe that the time has finally come to close Guantanamo bay.
How is that in America there is 1.7 trillion dollars of student debt. The average student loan lasts 21 years. For an average of 21 years you will be paying off a loan for an education that in order to get a steady job you are required to have a degree. In my opinion there is no solution to student debt and i'm not sure if there will ever be. A plan that I would in place would essentially freeze student debt for people who are making less than 40,000 dollars a year. For the next 10 years they would give 10 percent of their income to the government which would then go back into the education system. They are giving the 10 percent before taxes and the 10 percent isn't taxed. After the 10 years their student debt is forgiven. They must have been out of college for at least 5 years and this does not apply to any type of graduate schools. This is a phenomenal option because it is half of the average student loan and will most likely end up paying less with the 10 percent then they would paying student loans. These people are also re-investing in the future by putting back into our education systems. Now this isn't a solution to student loans and student loan providers are ultimately going to lose out but this definitely does help the people who need it the most. Citizens of a free country shouldn't have to be paying off their student loans in their mid forties. It isn't fair and something must be done about it. We are better than this as a country, our students and our future should not have to suffer.
Donald Trump doesn't care about our earth and environment and it shows. I would love to know how the Paris Climate Agreement affected us negatively in any way. It provided us with accountability, transparency and support when it comes to climate change. Climate change isn't something that is going to change without accountability and action. As a country we are doing nothing on the national level to help with Climate Change and that needs to change very soon. We only have on earth and we can’t keep sitting here and watching it slowly deteriorate. The Paris Climate Agreement allows all of the countries that are a part of the UN agree on the fact that climate change is driven by human behavior, and it is. It has been proven scientifically. As a first world country we must be in the forefront of this and be an example for other countries. It doesn't look good when the most powerful man in the world is calling climate change a hoax and saying that global warming is fake and does not exist. As a country we will not be affected as much as small islands and second and third world countries will be and are being affected right now, but we still have to be leading through this crisis. In a future post I am going to be going into the logistics of the 32 page document and going over why leaving this agreement makes absolutely no sense for the U.S Just moments after dropping out of the 2020 democratic primary election, the crowd in South Bend Indiana was chanting “2024”! Pete Buttigieg conducted himself like no other candidate throughout the election. He was always respectful, never got in yelling matches and was a people person overall. Going from a mayor in Indiana to raising comparisons to Obama and winning the Iowa caucus is something special. Not many people could pull that off. He had a support base better then arguably anyone else in the election. I just think that it was too early for mayor Pete. Being 38 on a debate stage with candidates who are all over 50 and having zero national political experience is extremely difficult. The only thing candidates were able to attack him for is his lack of experience and his billionaire wine cave. I truly do believe that Pete will be president one day, he just needs to get experience under his belt. The way he speaks and handles himself at rallys and on the debate stage is something that you can not teach. Everytime he speaks everyone in the room listens. The comparisons to Obama are understandable solely because of how they both command the room and a crowd. Politically wise Pete was always spot on. Candidates would come at him for his experience yet he knew the answer to every single question that came at him during the debates. Now what is next for Pete Buttigieg, who knows. He has an opportunity for senate in Indiana in 2022 or in 2024. Personally I think that is the best bet for him so when he does make another run for president he can do it the right way and ultimately end up successful.
Imagine this. You are put in a prison for x amount of time with little to no knowledge of the outside world and any of your assets and then one day you are thrown back into the world and essentially told good luck, I hope you make it. That is what every single inmate who is released feels. There is no plan or system in place for inmates who are released and that needs to change. 60 - 75 percent of inmates find themselves jobless after a year of being released and 50,000 inmates a year enter homelessness almost immediately after being released from prison. There is nothing being done for ex inmates in America and that needs to change immediately. Ex - inmates are already at a disadvantage when applying for jobs because of their record. Then if they want to apply for a loan to possibly start their own business or buy a house it is likely that they will be denied for their record as well. Now I am sure that there are success stories coming from ex inmates but it is very rare. They are at such a disadvantage after being released from prison and it is completely out of their control. These people have served their time and followed the rules. They shouldn't be put back into society and seen as second class citizens because of something that they did in the past. Now I am not sure if there is a solution to this problem and I am not sure if a solution will be found soon but we need to start working towards a solution. 1,350,000 ex convicts are unemployed because of something that they did in their past. How is that fair? With that being said you need to ask yourself, does the sentence ever really end?
“Tearing each other down because we have a different plan to me is unacceptable. I have seen this script before.” - Cory booker. What our current president fails to do is provide a sense of unity. With everything going on in the country the president's goal still seems to divide the country. Instead of bringing the country together in a time of crisis the president has somehow found a way to take a side and declare war on the protesters, peaceful or not. We can’t take another term of this division. We are all the same, we are all part of the same country but for some reason the president doesn't want that to be the case. One thing that stood out to me during the democratic primary debates was Cory booker's message. His message of unity. In every debate that he was in he pushed that we needed to come together, not just as a party but as a country. Whenever candidates were arguing he would chime in and remind them that we are better than this and they are feeding into what Donald Trump wants them to do. This message of unity has never meant as much as it does now. America is split in half when America should be together as one to put an end to racism. From calling the protesters thugs, and claiming that terrorists took over the city of Seattle Donald Trump doesn't want to see his country united and it is evident. To him it is always a left versus right war when really it should be everyone together fighting against racism. Whether it is Cory Booker or not, the next leader that we elect has to put the people first. Instead of using the protests as a photo opportunity he should be out marching with the people and fighting with them. Whether you agree with Donald Trump politically or not the question needs to be asked. “Is everything that he is doing for the people, or for himself? What happened was wrong and there is no other way to put it. I am glad that all four officers were arrested and charged. I don't want to spend lots of time on that because we all know that it was unlawful and incorrect. Sadly there are people who are trying to justify this and bring other races into the argument. A common argument to this situation is well oh if George Floyd was white these protests and riots wouldn't be happening. Well that is true you also have to ask yourself would the arrest have gone the way it did if George Floyd was white. There will always be scrutiny against protesting, no matter what type of protest it is and it has always been like that. There are major differences between protesting, rioting and looting. Peacefully protesting is right that you are given when you become a citizen of this country. It is a first amendment right. As MLK once said “Rioting is a language of the unheard”. These people are scared and they don't know what to do so they are taking to the streets. It is a shame that people are getting hurt and it should have had to be that way but sadly that is what it took for the president to acknowledge the injustice going on in the United States. This isn't a political problem. This is a human rights problem. Thus I think it is very unfair for white people to be criticizing these riots because they do not understand. They don't understand what it is like to get pulled over and fearing for their lives. They don't understand what it is like to have to fear if they make one wrong move during an arrest their life can be over. They don't understand what it is like to fear for your life on a jog as Ahmuad Arburry did. 232 years and America had finally elected an African American president and now it seems as if we are going backwards. It is going to take a while for people to understand. It took 4 years for people to finally realize why colin kaepernick was kneeling and who knows how long it will take for people to understand the injustice that is going on in america. It may take years but I do believe that we will get there eventually. To the people who are protesting I condemn you. Thank you for doing your part.
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