Blog Stage 8

In the future, your kitchen will think for itself

While letting machines do all the heavy lifting for us sounds like my kind of place, we need to think about the consequences first. Many of the tasks robots will be expected to perform would be low income, hard labor work. Driving, cooking, and other jobs that are filled largely by people who cannot, or are in the process of gaining higher education. Taking away those jobs would create a critical gap in people’s ability to advance within society. These people would lose access to the work they are qualified for, lose the income necessary to pay for education to gain other qualifications, and leave many without anything to do. They would change from the ones maintaining the foundations of our country to a massive drain of resources as we try to figure out what to do with all these people who are suddenly unqualified for any legitimate work. Before we turn these jobs over to our future robot overlords, we need to find a solution to the problems it’s going to create.

Blog Assignment 7

The tragedy at Charlottesville was made possible days before the event itself took place. An independent review that recently released indicated several major problems. A lack of sufficient preparation meant that officers did not have gear when it was needed. Overly complex planning led to there being no well-designed plan amongst several. State and local police did not effectively coordinate their plans with each other, and on the day of the event remained on separate radio channels. Inaccurate information on the legality of several actions led to the possession of more dangerous weaponry by the protestors. And perhaps worst of all officers were encouraged to allow violence to escalate so more extreme force could be used to disperse the protests. These facts worked together to create a situation were violence broke out and escalated rapidly, many officers were not positioned or equipped to restore order, and conflicting methods caused an increase of disorder and conflict, directly pushing protestors and counter-protestors together. This cannot be allowed to happen again, and I view 3 key points as needing addressed in the future to prevent similar tragedies. The first is communication, law enforcement must be prepared beforehand to communicate between agencies in an effective, efficient, and accurate manner. The second issue is preparation, officers must be properly equipped, plans must be direct and kept relatively simple, and everybody needs to be operating from the same playbook from start to finish. The third issue is ego, the higher ups assumed they had control of the situation, right up until it became blatantly obvious that no one had control. Law enforcement must be ready for these situations, prepared for the worst, and willing to put forth all effort to ensure the situation remains stable. The governments duty is not to use the easiest method or cut corners for conveniences sake, it’s to use the method that protects the people, ensures their safety, and safeguards their rights.

Blog Assignment 6

Gerrymandering: It's just not sexy

Implementing the shortest split-line method would create a more impartial system. The problem is putting that into practice when the people who write laws benefit greatly from the current system. The first step would need to be creating awareness among eligible voters, but as you noted at the beginning of your post, there are other really important issues that need to be addressed, issues that are much more attention grabbing than how we divide up voting districts. The only way I could see people actually caring about gerrymandering is if we directly connect it to their quality of life in a way that not even the most ignorant Americans can deny. If anyone has an idea for how to do this please let me know, because fixing gerrymandering would lay the groundwork for fixing non-partisanship and gridlock in congress which would let us truly address other issues such as immigration and healthcare in a way that represents the will of the people.

Blog Assignment 5

Many people see the Mueller investigation and hope it will eventually climb the ranks all the way to the top and successfully impeach Donald Trump. While possible, we should sincerely hope that this does not happen because Mike Pence would be worse as President of the United States than Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a controversial figure who can’t seem to keep his facts straight through an entire sentence, much less long enough to try to enact policy. He often makes about faces and has been an excellent contributor to slowing down a conservative agenda in a republican controlled senate and house. Trump talks big, incites anger, then moves on to whatever has caught his attention in the meantime. His danger comes entirely from the fact that every time he opens his mouth he helps increase a divide between factions existing within the country. That’s all he is: words and hot air. His actions bring bitterness, anger, and resentment to the surface, but those things were already here, now they’re just in plain view where everyone can see them. In that way, he’s beneficial, because there’s nothing like having a problem shoved in your face to motivate you into fixing it. Mike Pence, on the other hand, is a hard-liner, ultra conservative, evangelical Christian. He opposes abortion for any reason, including rape, he has actively passed laws that essentially legalize discrimination against homosexuals, and is firmly convinced that global warming is a myth. He supports one of two agendas at any given time: the conservative Christian agenda, or whatever the Koch brothers are currently paying him to support. Pence compared Obamacare to 9/11, took money from its expansion, then did everything in his power to keep from spending that money on providing healthcare to Indiana’s poor. A Presidency under Pence would closely resemble his actions as governor of Indiana. The entirety of his governorship he ignored the concept of “separation of church and state” pushing through a religious agenda everywhere except in economics, where he pursued the Koch brothers’ agenda instead to maintain his backing and funds. The damage of a Trump presidency can be fixed if we come together as one nation and work for it. The damage of a Pence presidency would create longer lasting damage that could potentially undermine the constitution and the principles of America. That’s why if you’re going to kick out Trump, remember to save an extra boot for Pence.