Harvard professor's super PAC aims to end power of super PAC

Harvard professor's  at Harvard University have been developing a variety of questions that have gather the attention of many people in the U.S. The first question developed was, " if it would be able to create a super PAC that would end the power of the PAC and get enough Americans into the system to limit the influence of money in politics?" . The second question was," if it were possible to get voters excited about a subject as dry as a campaign finance?". In order for the professors to test out the questions, one of the professors named:  Lawrence Lessig asked Americans across the political spectrum who believe the current political system is legally corrupt. The result ended up being that they thought the government is not responsible for the average American but instead responsible for the rich people that help fund the country. The general idea is that the public doesn't like how the system is run. However people don't seem to put interest in changing the way the government is formed. In my perspective people should be aware of the research that is done especially by this Harvard professors. If people are always protesting how they don't like the way the government is run they should raise their voice and speak up rather then leave all the issues to the rich people that help fund the government in the United States. Having a voice to speak about the issues you think are wrong is very important especially living in a country where you are able to have the freedom of speech and expression.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-harvard-professor-super-pac-big-money-politics-20140523-story.html

Congress member tries to run again

This year many veteran lawmakers are retiring from their position in Congress. However, the oldest member is trying to battle to serve another year. Texas Rep. Ralph Hall who in this month turned 91 faces John Ratcliffe who is 48 in a primary runoff election Tuesday in the northeast Texas seat. Hall led the Republican field in the March 4 primary election, but failed to win an outright majority to avoid a second ballot. Ratcliffe is a former local mayor and a U.S attorney.Prominent tea party-affiliated groups have endorsed Ratcliffe, arguing that conservatives need a fresh face in Washington. But Hall, a former Democrat, says no one has opposed the Obama administration more vigorously and wants the chance to fight the president's policies for another term. Turnout is expected to be very low in the runoff vote, which comes after a long holiday weekend. Statewide, Republicans are also voting in a bitter runoff battle between sitting Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Sen. Dan Patrick. He is determined to win this election because he wants to serve one more term before he retires.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-ralph-hall-runoff-20140527-story.html

Conservative Tide Continues to Ebb Particularly on Social Issues

In the past four years there has been a shift that could harm GOP prospects in the future elections. On social issues the number of people who consider themselves liberal is equal to the ones that consider themselves conservative. About one-third of Americans will identify with either group, they don't have specific group that they side with. The other third call themselves moderates on social issues. Recently in 2010, conservatives had a 17-point advantage over liberals on social issues in Gallup's polling. A similar shift has taken place on economic issues even though  the conservative advantage remains bigger in that realm. Just as a rising conservative tide helped Republicans in 2010, a waning one if it continues could pose problems for the party in future elections. Republican strategists already worry about the gap separating the party from black, Latino and Asian American voters, and an ideological gap would add to their burden. The change there is in party identification does prove some clues to voting patterns.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-conservative-tide-ebbs-poll-20140528-story.html

Cut Down in Troops

Obama is planning to have 9,800 U.S troops in Afghanistan after the U.S ends its combat mission this year. He's cutting the number by almost half by the end of 2015. By the end of 2016 the U.S will draw down to "a normal embassy presence with a security office in Kabul as they have done in Iraq. On January 2015 the troop levels will be on track for what the Pentagon has requested in the last few months. It said that the presence of 10,000 troops is necessary for protection training, counterterrorism and intelligence gathering. The drawdown schedule would bring U.S troop levels down to below 5,000 by the end of 2015 which is what many people in the Pentagon favored. There has been criticism of how Obama has dealt with the situation in Syria, Ukraine, and anywhere else. By cutting down the number of troops in Afghanistan will serve to get the people's attention on a country that is already stable.

http://www.latimes.com/world/afghanistan-pakistan/la-fg-obama-afghanistan-troops-20140527-story.html#

Mississippi, home to federal government's official stash of marijuana

On the campus of the University of Mississippi marijuana is grown, processed and sold by the federal government. The stockpiles that have represent the only pot source that can be used for research. However, researchers can't get it without the approval of the Drug Enforcement Administration Administration to say it's okay. The pot can only be used for medical purposes. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is also represented and must sign of too. Some researchers complain that getting the approval is unreasonably and tough for the scientists that are trying to find beneficial purposes of the uses of the drug. Under the federal law this drug is classified as a more dangerous substance than cocaine that has no medical use. The DEA guards the stockpile as if it were plutonium. Scientists had noticed that they have to find a way to get around and get an approval. However, he doesn't dare to bend the rules because he depends on the DEA. In 2007, a DEA administrative law judge ruled that the University of Mass. should also be able to grow their own pot, but top officials didn't agree. The farm on this university remains a source of great interest.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pot-monopoly-20140529-story.html#page=1

Immigration Delay

On Wednesday the White House's surprise decision to delay a review of deportations has once again revived the immigration debate. The focus has shifted from President Obama who has increasingly come under fire from immigration law advocates as the "deporter in chief" and throwing the issue back to the House Republicans. It said that by delaying a planned Department of Homeland Security review of deportation until August of this year it gives the House an opportunity to pass a reform bill before the midterm election. Secretary Jay Carney said that they wouldn't want the review to create a reason or an excuse not pass or act. The Republican leaders were fine with Obama's overture. John A Boehner, House Speaker of Ohio, said that this delay shouldn't be viewed as a "concession"to Republicans, but instead as Obama's responsibility to uphold existing laws. House Republicans don't want to pass any immigration laws because they don't trust Obama to enforce the ones already existing. This leads Obama to take executive actions. At the end either House Republicans will serve up immigration legislation by August or Obama will argue he had little choice, but to act o his own Democrats portray the GOP as unsympathetic to immigration communities.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-immigration-delay-20140529-story.html#page=1

Incumbent Loses Runoff

The oldest congressmen has become the first incumbent to lose a primary election in 2014. Former U.S Attorney John Ratcliffe edged 17-incumbent Rep. Ralph M. Hall in a Republican runoff in Texas. This year many veteran lawmakers have been leaving on their own however, Hall was hoping to serve one final term. He wanted to represent voters in northeastern Texas, but with the combination of his age and a motivated core of tea party voters in the low-turnout race has proven to make it difficult to overcome. His defeat will leave the New Congress next year without a World Was 2 veteran since Rep. John D. Dingell will be retiring. The reason that he was defeated was because of three reasons. One was his age, the second was the fact that he was a former democrat, and three his longevity in Congress. It was said that Washington needed a new face in Congress. Plus he had previously failed to get a win when he led the GOP in the initial March 4 primary. The main factor that people were talking about was his age. On Tuesday Ratcliffe got 21,539 voted while Hall got 19,000. His victory marked the first triumph for outside conservative groups over incumbent Republican lawmakers this year.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-texas-primary-runoff-20140527-story.html

Official Identified by White House

The White House has accidentally identified the CIA's top official in Kabul. This was done in an email that has circulated thousands of journalists. The White House has deny to say anything and all the media outlets did not release the official's name for his and his family's protection. The email consisted of a list of names that would go with Obama on his trip to Afghanistan. He was going on this memorial day weekend to thank the soldiers for their service. The official was identified by "chief of station" which is the job title of the CIA's top official in a foreign country. All foreign operations are usually kept a secret. This s not the first time this has happened in 2003 the same thing occurred.

  http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-white-house-cia-name-afghanistan-20140526-story.html 

Arkansas Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

On Friday the Arkansas Supreme Court without any explanation stopped the issuance of marriage license to same-sex couples by granting a request to stay lower court ruling that had invalidated all laws banning gay marriage. There have been millions of gays and lesbians that have gotten married already. Judge Chris Piazza ruled that the ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. With this said he left 75 county clerks confused, leaving some with the will of issuing marriage license to same-sex couples, however others refused to do so. Now that Arkansas is off the table only 17 states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said he will defend the desire of voters who established the same-sex marriage ban in the state constitution despite his own personal belief that marriage occurs between a man and a woman. The courts have issued a stay however, people didn't like this because it would take the lgbt community a longer time to gain the same rights as opposite-sex couples. To this day it's still unclear what Arkansas will decide.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-arkansas-gay-marriage-stay-20140516-story.html

Alley Clean Up

Meredith Watts has been calling the city's Bureau of Sanitation to clear up the alley of her home where she once lived. If she doesn't call the people don't come to clean up. She says she remembers being able to play in the alley when she was a kid. But now all the alleys are piled up with trash and not sanitary. Now there is a plan to spend more money to try to clean the alleys up. Mayor Eric Garcettie proposed to spend $5 million to try to straighten the alleys up. However, people believe that this amount of money won't be enough to do so. So Los Angeles lawmakers want a systematic citywide solution to help do the work. The City Council on Wednesday set up crews that will go clean up the places that are in the most need. They alleys before used to be cleaned up by the Bureau of Street Servies, but money was eliminated for them. The estimated amount to clean most of the trash is between $25-$30 million, however, money is still tight so they plan to only use a small portion of this.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-alley-cleaning-20140501,0,1247352.story#axzz30aQIafGs

Medical System In Prisons

For many inmates that were/are serving a sentence in jail don’t really get any medical treatment. The jail system had a poor medical system for these inmates however; the state’s prison did something about this so the federal people would get off their back. California has a $840 million medical system which would provide care to more than 1,800 inmates. In July they opened the state-of-the-art California Health Care Facility. However, there was miscommunication and mismanagement between the medical staff and the prison. It wasn’t only that they weren’t getting medical care, but also not shoes, soap, or towels. Many complains arose and the inmates lawyers were the ones to voice them out. Prisoner’s advocates were fighting to help the inmates because some weren’t even allowed to shower. Now there has been change for these inmates and now have some kind of medical care. The state Corrections Department is in charge of the general custody and Kelso is in charge of the $1.7 billion a year prison medical care system.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ff-prison-hospital-20140413,0,7414773.story#axzz2ypfqduU5

Supreme Court

California’s Supreme Court is expected to have some change. For many years the Supreme Court has been dominated by Republicans. However, this might change because Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to change this if he is reelected. Two of the most powerful judges who are conservatives are now in their late 70’s. Gov. Brown of replacing them with the people he wants although it’ll take a couple more replacements to fully change the court around. Brown faces political pressure and many people are saying that he will pick a Latino. The court has never had an African American or Latino judge before. Some say that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he elected lawyer James Humes who is openly gay. For more than two decades the court has only had one democratic appointee. Brown may want to create a court that is interested in the ideas behind the laws as well as practical results.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-brown-court-20140405,0,4034285.story#axzz2y5G7mO00

Affirmative Action

The issue of Affirmative Action started coming up in January. Senators passed a measure that if approved would ban the affirmative action California has on higher public education. However, there were worries from the upper class that there will be no more space for their children because of the minority groups. In 1996 a law was passed that forbids the state to consider race, ethnicity or gender in hiring, contracting or admissions to public institutions of higher education. People say that there are some groups that are not well represented because they don’t make that much of the population. The Chinese community is the ones who are talking more about the whole affirmative action situation. The senator wanted to make sure that the concerns of Asian Americans before doing anything. Several lawmakers in the assembly opposed the proposal. None of the proposals of Hernandez have never been enacted, he has only talked about them.  
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-affirmative-action-20140331,0,2270777.story#ixzz2xc4vmq5o

Obamacare

The time to apply for Obamacare is coming to an end. By Monday 03/31/14 everyone who wants to benefit from Obamacare must have applied by then. After this the question is what to do with the people who failed to enroll or those who weren’t eligible. Many of these people are poor or undocumented. There are some counties that are ignoring this issue and are leaving it up to the free clinics there are. However, Los Angeles is trying to set up some type of health care system for them, but is not sure how it will look like or will be funded. Every Tuesday they will meet up to talk about this system and see how it will be funded and if this will actually help the people. It I estimated by UCLA and UC Berkeley researchers that 3 to 4 million people in California will still be uninsured 5 years from now even after the Affordable Care Act is in effect. There are doubts that this plan will get far.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-obamacare-undocumented-20140331,0,706064.story#axzz2xbcxHt36

Increase in Tax

There is a plan to increase the sales tax on things to help repair the damaged roads. The plan is to increase half-cent on the sales taxes which will produce $4.5 billion in 15 years. Increasing the tax is the only way to help repair the damage roads there are in Los Angeles. Public transit people are voicing out their worries because they worry that a city tax increase could jeopardize their proposal for a countywide sales tax for transportation projects. It’s said that if voters approve this in November the tax rate within Los Angeles’s city limits would go up to 9.5 cents on every $1 of retail sales. On Wednesday there will be hearing to talk about to see if people agree to increase the tax. If so, this will appear in the November ballot. However, most people think it’s better to go with the transit tax because it would be more beneficial.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0401-transportation-taxes-20140401,0,5346445.story#ixzz2xbj5KFEO

Concealed Weapons

In San Diego sheriffs will continue to review applicants for permits which will allow them to carry guns. “Despite a court ruling that struck down California’s concealed weapons statute, the San Diego county Sheriff’s Department” will continue to give out permits to those who meet the standards. People will continue to apply for permits and then those applications will be reviewed to see whether they’re capable of carrying a concealed weapon. On Thursday the ruling by a “three-judge panel of the 9^TH Circuit Court of Appeals found that the statute, as applied by the San Diego department, was overly restrictive and violate the 2^nd amendment”.  Those that don’t meet the standards will be denied their permit.  Many people in the San Diego area support this ruling and don’t have a problem with it. For example, Tony Kravic, a republican, tweeted his support for the ruling that was made on Thursday.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-diego-concealed-guns-permits-20140215,0,5803926.story#axzz2tXDv9NFy

 

West Hollywood Rainbow Flag

On June 2013 there was a rainbow flag that was hung above City Hall. Now the West Hollywood City Council has responded to a growing criticism of the removal of that flag. The flag will be removing, but there will be a compromise. In order for the flag to be moved, there will be another flag hung that incorporates rainbow colors into the city logo. In a last week meeting the council members agreed to this change. On January the flag was removed due to a unanimous vote by the council. As soon as the flag was removed they got complains from the residents because 40% of the people living there identify themselves as gay or lesbian and four the council members are gay men. The new flag that will have a rainbow city logo, this logo is already displayed on city vehicles and on the vehicles of Los Angeles County sheriffs’ deputies in the West Hollywood Station.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-west-hollywood-rainbow-flag-20140207,0,344943.story#axzz2stdFel5L

Not Defending Gay Marriage

On Thursday newly elected Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced a voter-approved ban unconstitutional and said that his office will no longer defend gay marriage. Although the state will continue to enforce the already existing laws he said his office would join sides with two gay couples that sued to overturn the ban. Herring said that this was a violation of the 14^th amendment and that the law was discriminatory. The decision made makes Virginia the key battleground between the Democrats and Republicans. Virginia has always been on the side that loses civil rights cases. He said that the people have always had to make their own stand fighting for civil rights while their leaders stood against them, but this no longer was the instance. The suit is trying to overturn all the bans that are on gay marriage and want it to be legal. People didn’t expect Herring to hurt their; they wanted the law to be upheld.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-gay-marriage-virginia-20140124,0,7591917.story#axzz2rYXwr6WK

Crime Rate

For the 11^th year the crime in Los Angeles has dropped again in 2013. On Monday Los Angeles’s Mayor Eric Garcetti and Police Chief Charlie Beck announced that final LAPD statistics showed that crime has fallen 5.2% in the whole city. There are double-digits drop in violent crime, homicides, reported rapes, and gang violence. Although the rate of crimes have gone down there are still neighborhoods that are dangerous and hear gunshots at night. They still read about tragedies in the newspaper when they wake up in the morning. Garcetti still wants to work with the Chief to help lower the crime rate even more and make it safer for the people living in L.A. The officers are credited for the work they have done to help lower the crime rates in the community. Before this city was known as the “City of Gang Violence”, but now it’s known as the “Home of the Solution to Gang Violence”.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-crime-falls-20140113,0,3357277.story#axzz2qEm3UCuW 

Immigration Bills

The speaker of the House John A. Boehner is trying to make immigration laws his priority. He said on Wednesday that he will soon release a document of conservative “principles” on the immigration issue that would make the Republicans pass a series of bills this year. However, Boehner is facing a lot of challenges because there are a lot of parties that are conservatives. The house Republicans oppose to the fact of giving citizenship to about 11 million immigrants who are here in the U.S illegally. It is very clear that this is not a choice the Republicans can make; it’s something that is set and will actually happen. Although the document is kind of vague it is clear that this will really help the immigrants. The document is the first step that GOP leaders are taking to consider other immigration documents by April. There are certain Republicans that are on Boehner side and do support him.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-gop-immigration-20140109,0,5532597.story#axzz2pyZCEwjw