Friday, August 24, 2018

Current Events Weekly Assignment


Congratulations for deciding to take AP Gov.  Though this class will be tough, if you make an effort to completely engage in the content you will find the experience very worthwhile!

Most of what we cover will be relevant to the current political landscape.  We will discuss modern trends, upcoming (and current) electoral races, and new policy.  To be successful in this class you will need to have a general understanding of today's political news.  You will need to pay attention whats happening in government, the current events. 


Use the following guidelines to help you prepare:

1.       Find a current event that connects to our vocab. Be able to explain the vocab word, and how we see it in action in the event.

2.       Article selection -the piece you choose is appropriate in length and content
·         the selection relates well to US government and politics
·         no sports or celebrity news unless it relates DIRECTLY to gov.
·         article is a published piece associated with a news source
·         no blog entries. They can be informative but are not subject to the same fact checking as formal news sources.

3.       Bullet list of ten pieces of factual or inferential information  
·         what did you learn from the article?
·         what could you infer from the information?
·         these bullets must be in YOUR words

4.       An analysis of how the article relates to the study of politics, looking for a minimum of three relationships.  
·         use political language/concepts/models -shows relationship of phenomenon
·         reference specific topics covered in class
·         discusses cause and effect
·         discusses bias
·         minimum 6-8 sentence paragraph

5.       Your thoughts and reflection.



Your blog entry is DUE each Friday by 3:00 PM. Submitted assignments show a timestamp, so be sure to submit prior to 3:00 for full credit.
20% will be deducted per day late.

To receive full credit, you must:
The analysis must be original. No quotes. MAKE SURE TO PROVIDE A LINK TO THE ARTICLE. It is appropriate to add relevant pictures etc. to provide more background.


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SAMPLE

Name
Hour
Date

Source:
Separation of Powers is the act of separating the government branches to  limit the power of each. The Executive branch … | Check and balance,  Government, Separation
Vocab word:
Separation of powers

Notes:
·         “Separation of powers restoration act of 2016”
·         Would undo Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council
·         Democrats want to preserve it, Republicans want to overturn it
·         The chevron decision was made in 1984 and stated “that certain federal agency interpretations of federal statutes are to be upheld so long as they are reasonable and permissible readings, even if they are not the interpretations that courts would embrace in the first instance.”
·         This boils down to, basically, if a law can be interpreted a certain way, or advised to be handled a certain way by a third party expert, it can be enforced to that extent (if you can argue your point to the court you're golden).
·         This makes it a lot easier to win/manipulate federal court cases to your advantage over how things should be enforced.
·         It is supported because it gives the executive branch more leeway (and therefore accountability) when interpreting laws.
·         This is a blatant overlap of power which is why certain people want it gone.
·         (Executive overlapping judicial)
·         It encourages laziness in congress and gives more power to the executive branch, so it greases the machines wheels but increases the risk of political backlash on the executive branch.
(Note: Not my views just summarizing the article)

Analysis:


Increasing the interpretation power of the executive branch increases efficiency and accountability, real accountability. Regardless of what branch of govt. A decision originates in, there will be political blowback. The republican argument against this case rests on that blowback being more risk than reward which is circumstantial at best. The very congress that votes to strike down this power is the very congress that can regulate it as they see fit seeing as how the executive branch only has the power of interpretation when their bills are too vague. This interpretation adds another layer of examination as to how the law should be enacted (by the party whom it would affect the most negatively if messed up) and could be overturned in cases of extreme impunity as well as controlled at its roots (congress).Judicial review of an unconstitutional exertion of this interpretation would be necessary but has no merit as of right now and there is certainly no merit in the overturning of a law that has no ill effect and increases the efficiency of the government.

Thoughts/Reflection:

I tend to believe that allowing for more loose interpretations of the Constitution can be problematic in the short term. The solution, an impartial and independent judiciary becomes a critically important piece, and requires a faith in a branch of government that has been losing public confidence recently. Saying that, I also believe that a more elastic version of our law is necessary, given the context of the time. Many constitutions have failed for their inflexibility. 
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Acceptable News Websites:
CNN.com
No US weekly please
cbsnews.com
abcnews.go.com
reuters.com
news.bbc.co.uk
worldnews.com
www.MSNBC.com
www.FOXnews.com
www.USAToday.com
www.TIME.com

Check the "politics" tab









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Podcast Weeks
Occasionally we will have "podcast" current event weeks. When announced, the expectation is that you select a podcast from "The Daily" and make your podcast relative to the topic discussed.

Podcast selected should be no more than 2 weeks old.

All other instructions are the same for podcast weeks.

https://www.nytimes.com/podcasts/the-daily

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