The federal courts handle those who break federal laws while the state courts handle state laws. The differentiation is so that the judges can focus in on one section of crime instead of trying to focus on all of them. If they didn't judges would be overwhelmed and also there would be no separation in state and federal laws.

The advantages are that judges won't get influenced because they don't have to worry about re election. The disadvantage is that they can bring old ways of thinking that don't represent the country. I prefer the lifetime appointment because it doesn't cloud their judgment by making them worry about being re elected.

To make sure that the right people are handling the situation.

This app would be used for lawmakers as well as citizens it would make it easier for them to both communicate to each other. First on the lawmakers side the app would have a chat room where citizens could tell the congressmen what they want to be passed. The people can talk about previous laws that were passed as well as people can respond to what other people post about the bills. The app would also have another tab where credible news sources could post about what they think about the bill as well as other things that the bill would do. The app would make the law making process easier and more efficient because there would be a direct link between the congressman and the people. This would also help them be transparent because the app would have a function to show how each congressman voted in previous bills as well as share the official contact of the congressman so people could easily get in contact with them. This app would be useful because it would bridge the gap of communication between congressman and their constituents by creating a direct line of communication that is at bot of their fingertips. This app also allows congressmen to see what the people really want from the congressmen and how they want to live in their communities and how they want it ran. This alleviates Congress’ power because it lets the people see more of what they are up to in a convenient and accessible way where they can access it from anywhere, because in modern times people always have their phone on them. So, having an app that has all the information of the congressional process and all the information about congressmen and their history in the palm of constituents hands would have more informed voters. This can also cause people to be more interested in politics and cause them to read more about candidates when other voting scenarios come up. This app would be very good for congressmen because they would be able to see what the people wanted and tailor their politics to match those values. This would also be good for citizens because they can see what their congressmen are up to and contact them if they are doing something that they do not agree with as well as talk to other people about issues which they care about.

The question that I would ask a judge in a confirmation hearing is what have you learned through your time as a judge that would prepare you to be a supreme court justice? This would be important to see how they grew from the beginning and who they may be as a justice in the future. If in the future they could help me in passing laws which I want to pass then I would want them to be a Supreme Court Justice. They could help me when someone questions whether the laws which I want to pass are constitutional. Previous rulings that they have made would shape the way that they think and what they experienced and this can show how they would think in the future. This would show how they interpret laws and this would show how they interpret the constitution when it comes to Supreme Court rulings. This is because in some cases both are ambiguous in what they mean and the way which it is interpreted as can have long lasting effects on the country when Supreme Court rulings are made and how they ruled on short term rulings will show how they can rule in landmark cases.This can show how their mind works and how they would vote in the future on issues and if they were views which I would like then they could be advantageous to the things which I would hope to be accomplished in the future. The way this would secure a type of justice is it would show who they are and how they think and if they align with what I think then they would be more favorable. If something that I wanted to pass went to the supreme court I would want someone who thought like me to be there so it would be easier for me to pass las. This would be through this confirmation hearing question because if the person has a past which I can relate to then they would be someone who I would want as a Supreme Court justice because the think similarly to me and would rule in my favor and help me accomplish the things that I want to accomplish. In the end I would ask this question to see if their thoughts and the way they would work that would favor me and make rulings that could help me make laws which I support.

Aaron Rodriguez - 304949598

Describe a Structural or Organizational aspect of Congress and by using a specific example explain why this aspect makes the goals of Congress difficult or easy to achieve?

The structure of Congress is a complex system used in order to pass laws and shape public values. There is a bicameral structure with a total of 535 member in Congress. There are a total of 100 senators having 2 senators in each state of 50 and 435 members of the House of Representatives which is differently distributed by state. This number has been set by the Reapportionment Act of 1929. With all these members of Congress there is also a process to how laws are passed.  According to factmonster.com the way a bill becomes a law there is four steps. First a member of Congress introduces a bill. Then a committee reviews and votes on the bill. After that the Senate and the House debate over the bill and vote. Finally the President reviews the bill and signs it or vetoes it. This process takes a lot of steps and if any of the steps are not finished then the bill is dead and it will have to go through the process again in order to try an be passed.

This process makes it hard for bills to go through but it makes sure that all opinions are heard about a bill and all things are considered into each bill brought up.One way this makes it hard to do something is when trying to take action. For example the immigration policy. Politicians have been looking for ways to approach immigration but have not been able to come to a clear conclusion on what they wanted to do as far as immigration. This gave Donald Trump  the opportunity to pass an executive order on immigration to block immigrants from entering the US. This has caused a mass change in the way that Americans live and how the country functions. The way that this was able to happen was because of the long drawn out process of trying to pass an immigration policy. So, because of the fact that the bill had to be introduced, their had to be so many discussions and voting this allowed the President to be able to pass an executive order in order to do something about the immigration policy. This did create action and change, however, this created the change that no one agreed upon. So, although that the process creates a place where all ideas and opinions can be heard. It also makes it hard for action to be taken and allows the President to take action on his own without consulting anyone, besides possibly his cabinet. This can cause dangerous decisions such as creating a ban on all people coming from the middle east such as what Trump has done. Things that the public has one in order to combat this is that companies like Starbucks will hire 10,000 refugees across the next 5 years. This is to help focus on those who helped alongside soldiers in the military who were interpreters for them and give them the opportunity to stay in the country that they served opposed to being deported, which would happen under the Trump administration. Starbucks is also looking to support immigrants by supporting farms in Mexico if trade sanctions were to be put upon them as well as provide health care if the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” is repealed. With all these changes having the possibility of being made companies such as Starbucks are taking action in order to make sure that the public values are not infringed upon. Companies would not have to take on this task if Congress would be able to pass things quickly. This is why the structure of Congress makes it hard for them to achieve what they want to achieve because of the long drawn out process. Other companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft have also voiced their concerns on how this immigration policy would affect them and their employees. This shows how companies are worried about their employees because it will not only reduce their manpower as a company but it will also reduce the amount of ideas that their company as well as the nation has at its disposal.   

In conclusion, the structure of Congress stops them from achieving what they want to achieve because of the long process of making a bill into becoming a law. This does have its advantages of being able to consider all factors but it allows Presidents to have the power to bypass them by having executive orders such as Trump and cause the public to not be happy with the decision that the  government is making. This will have a bad perception as the government as a whole because they will be the ones to be seen as the ones to allow this to happen when it is not what they intended to happen. Congress was still considering the factors which immigration policies had and still was thinking of the impact of it as a whole. With all this time taken in order to try and get policy written the President was able to take action that no one wanted. This unwanted action now causes the public and companies to take action in order to help those individuals which the policy that the President is passing is hurting. According to Congress the executive action is “as ridiculous, ill-conceived, un-American, and mean-spirited”. This shows how their inability to act has created an action that nobody wanted and is against American values. America has been seen as the land of opportunity and the “melting pot” of the world. This executive order goes against all those values. It causes immigrants to give of the opportunity to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as well as decrease the diversity of this country. The country has been at its strongest when it has been open to new ideas as well as expanding its opportunities. If we open up who can enter this country we can have the ability to find the next great individual who can help the world by providing the resources and training to them that otherwise could not be found. This is something that large corporations have found out and that they are encouraging by supporting the acceptance of immigrants and trying to help them become established. This is so they can be provided the tools in order to make this country stronger and a better place. The stepping in of corporation is only necessary because of the long process of Congress and in the end Congress is not able to get done what they want to accomplish because they have a long and complicated process in order to pass policies and this has given the opportunity for the executive branch to take advantage of the situation and implement a policy that no one want and that is worse off for the country because it limits the flow of ideas and the main goal of America. This causes us to be weaker as a nation and forces corporations to take on the role of government to give the people what they want and help the country become as strong as its greatest potential by investing in the immigrants who want to contribute to this country. In Conclusion, the structure of Congress gets in the way of making policy and makes it harder for it to achieve its goals and puts it on the public as well as private corporation to take the initiative to make the country better, stronger and more diverse to make a long lasting future which can strengthen the United States for generations to come.

Bibliography

Sozynski, Mike . "Starbucks to Hire 10,000 Refugees." Lady Freethinker. N.p., 30 Jan. 2017. Web. 09 May 2017. <https://ladyfreethinker.org/starbucks-hire-10000-refugees/>.

Introduction to government

• government is the term generally used to describe the formal institutions through which a land and its people are ruled 
• liberty - personal freedom and a government whose powers are limited by law 
• Ironically even a popular dependence on government has grown, the American public view of government has turned more sour 
• By 2013, only 19 percent of Americans reported trusting the government in Washington 
• from 75 percent in 1960 
• political efficacy - the belief that ordinary citizens can affect what government does, that they can take action to make government listen to them 
• citizenship - informed and active membership in a political community 
• digital citizenship is the ability to participate in society online
• 
  

The results of my test were that I associate Asian Americans with foreigners and European American as from America. I am not at all surprised by these findings because most people that I have met of Asian American descent are foreigners and those that I have met from European descent have mostly been born and raised in America. Starting from birth my mother was a foreigner she was  born in the Philippines and moved here in her early 30’s. Even though my mother was from a different country she spoke perfect english. However, I still new she was a foreigner. Most people that she associated herself with were also foreigners and Asian Americans. They had their own food from their culture, their own songs from their culture and even their own jokes from their homeland. This immersion into the Asian American culture has caused me to believe that those who are Asian American are foreigners because most of the people that I had been around that were Asian American were people who had emigrated here from another country. The opposite is to be said about European Americans. The area that I lived in was primarily of European American descent and from hearing their stories they had multiple generations of family that were from America. These stories have caused me to believe that those of European descent had always lived in America. The test is a pretty good way to test your biased and how you associate things that are foreign with things that are Asian American. However, the method that they used is slightly flawed. Just because it may take you a little longer to associate two pictures together doesn’t mean you don’t associate them together. I knew what answer I wanted to do most of the time however, I couldn’t press the right key sometimes so due to this error it seemed that I associated two things together faster than others. Also when they started changing which letters associated with which race or if they were foreign or American I would get confused because the answers had changed and I was associating each answer with a letter. Other than this part for the most part the test is pretty accurate and shows immediate reactions to pictures. This test could be helpful to promote civil rights and civil liberties because it can show us where our biased views may lie but it can be improved. This test would be more effective though if there was some free response questions to show how the individual thinks opposed to just showing how the individual reacts.This would be useful in showing an individual's thought process and will cause them to be less confused when they change which keys are associated with which answers. For example it can show a foreigner an American and ask where people think that individual is from and why they think that. In conclusion, this test is pretty good and showing initial reaction to pictures and how we may associate them. However, there is still room for improvement to more accurately depict the way that users who take the test think.  

Comparing Social Media

When I conducted my project I looked at the similarities of how people talked about things on Facebook and Twitter. The movement I chose was the Black Lives Matter Movement. I chose this movement because it is one of the most talked about movements in recent history and I wanted to get a wide range of the way people were talking about a movement and to show a movement in action. The first obvious difference between the two is the thought process of the two on Twitter things that would be said are that “Black Lives Matter is the KKK in disguise” as well as having some posts with no words at all at simply hashtags, “Black kids shouldn't have to have a 3.5 GPA to matter. #BlackLivesMatter #JordanEdwards.” The way people post on twitter has no thought put into it that sometimes it doesn’t even express an opinion it just shows support of the movement. This may be due to the fact of how Twitter works. Twitter limits users to 140 characters so they can't really express themselves fully because they are limited on what they can say. On Facebook it is a whole different story because there are no limits to what you can say because there is no character limit most users don’t really take advantage of this extra ability to speak their mind and post videos and memes. Which is different than Twitter users because they simply just say spurts of what they are thinking about a movement and rarely show content of the movement. The way that they are both similar is that they both refer people to different articles to show people how the media is portraying them and what “experts” have to say about the movement. An example of a post on Facebook is as follows, “#BlackLivesMatter is a race supremacist organization, as vicious as the KKK.

If anything, they're worse because they're horribly hypocritical.

Two wrongs do not make a right, and Jesus taught the world to turn the other cheek.

Sadly, they're funded by a white Nazi collaborator named George Soros.

Don't believe me? ...

Check this out: http://overpassesforamerica.com/?p=33514

Thanks to Sarah A Slayer for the video!

For more of Sarah's work, click here: https://www.facebook.com/sarahslayer/videos another post that is compared to the Jordan Edwards post on Facebook is this, ““By over-emphasizing Jordan’s extracurricular activities, good academic standing, and innocence — like the parent of his teammate did when he expressed that this should not have happened to him and mentioned the presence of both of his parents, seemingly to contradict stereotypes about single-parent “broken homes” as a cause for black criminality or poor achievement — it is implied that this conceivably should have happened to someone else.

Jordan has become the perfect victi...m: Balch Springs police admitted they put forth an untrue version of the events, and reports claim he was an otherwise squeaky-clean young person. One might argue that a victim like Jordan “did everything right” and so does not deserve to be shot and killed in an incident of police brutality, where the racist motive for an undeserving victim is clear. But when a black person is armed, or may be armed, or has a concealed weapon (legally or not), mental health issues and is perceived as a threat to safety, or is otherwise a danger, a similarly fatal response may be considered more acceptable. These appeals to innocence assume the default condition of black people is criminal, until public opinion is persuaded to understand them as unique cases not representative of black people as a whole. And given the short attention span of media consumers in the era of the 24-hour news cycle, initial police statements, like the one botched by the Balch Springs Police Department, are important because people tend to make quick judgements, ones that may be unlikely to change.

Innocence and empathy for black victims are, thus, never assured.

We’ve seen this cycle over and over again when a black person is killed by the police: The victim’s grieving family is shown on television, and sometimes protesters are shown marching on the streets of a city mobilized by the violence. A police chief shares the officer's account of the incident, and we are left to make sense of yet another black life taken at the hands of police. In some cases, like Jordan's, people will call for accountability and base their appeals on tropes of black excellence, or the potential of black childhood, as was the case with 12-year-old Tamir Rice (though even his youth was not enough for the officer to be indicted). Even the decision to memorialize some, but not all, victims with hashtags represents how we selectively honor their lives.

Innocence is irrelevant when blackness itself is criminal. Either we affirm that all black lives matter — not just the cisgender, heterosexual, male, non-disabled, and middle class ones — or none of them do.”

See More

How Calling Jordan Edwards the ‘Perfect Victim’ Perpetuates Racism

“Innocence is irrelevant when blackness itself is criminal."

teenvogue.com.” Both these posts talk about the same thing but on Facebook individuals go into more detail. They post long paragraphs as well as post multiple videos and articles in order to express themselves. In contrast on twitter it was a short burst of words to talk about the issue.

The user just said a short excerpt of what they that and they used the #blacklivesmatter to connect himself to the movement. Another comparison between the two is the way that people respond to posts. Those on Twitter tend to have conversations with each other about the post while those on Facebook tend to just comment about the post that was made. In conclusion, when it comes to movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement individuals on Facebook will post more information on their posts but Twitter users will talk about the movement more and interact and be more engaged in the movement.