Unit 4 Section 2 Web Post

Alec Pratt
Unit 4 Section 2
3/31/2016

Big News: President Obama Is Headed to Cuba
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/02/18/big-news-president-obama-headed-cuba

President Barack Obama planned and went to Cuba March 21st. This trip is monumental to United States diplomacy. President Obama was the first president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge traveled to Cuba in 1928. This venture to Cuba is great for the forward progress between opening back up relations between Cuba and the United States.

President Obama definitly followed his role as Chief Diplomat with this trip to Cuba. He is using his ability as Chief Diplomat to open relations with the foreign country. The president came under a lot of fire from the opposite side of the political spectrum during this trip though. The bombings and attacks of Belgium did not stop the POTUS to continue onto Cuba and later Argentina. This created lots of unwaranted drama between the two major political parties in the USA. By continuing onto cuba, President Obama showed he will not be scared by terrorism. Many good things came out of this trip as well. Meetings with the new president of Argentina proved to be successful and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Cuba. All bad jokes aside, the opening of relations between both Cuba and the United States can be very beneficial for both countries.

Unit 4 Section 1 Blog Post

Alec Pratt
March 22, 2016
Unit 4 Section 1

Representative Dan Lipinski

Rep. Lipinski has been a member of Congress since 2005.  Before becoming a member of congress, Rep. Lipinski was an engineer and a college professor. His largest contributor is the Polish American leadership PAC, which gave him around 1800 dollars in 2014. Rep. Lipinski’s district is a part of chicago and is heavily concerned with technology. He has served 6 terms as a representative for Illinois. His major committee assignments include: House committee on Science, Space and Technology, and House committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He is a ranking member of the subcommittee on Research and Technology.

What Would Dan Do?

H.R. 4528: ENCRYPT Act of 2016

I believe that Rep. Lipinski would vote in favor of the ENCRYPT Act. Coming from a technologically advanced district, and because he sits on many technology based committees, I believe that Rep. Lipinski would vote for the passing of this act. The ENCRYPT Act would prevent states from banning encryption. This would be very beneficial to the furthering of technology without the invasion of the outside. While the act is being sent and is based around terrorism and crime, i believe that Rep. Lipinski understands the need for privacy in technology.

H.R. Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Re-Authorization Act of 2016

I believe that Rep. Lipinski would not vote in favor of the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Re-Authorization Act of 2016. I believe that Rep. Lipinski would vote for the continuation of the air to be controlled by the FAA instead of privatizing the air. Rep. Lipinski serves on the Aviation subcommittee in the House as well. Coming from Chicago, i think he would see that having all airways under the same one control makes things a lot easier and safer.

H.R. Sentencing Reform Act of 2015

I think that Rep. Lipinski would not vote for the passing of the Sentencing Reform Act. Coming from an urban area, I believe that Rep. Lipinski would want to make his streets safe. While many prisoners may change while they are imprisoned, shortening a drug dealers sentence could lead to more drugs being sold in his district. I think that Rep. Lipinski would want the best for his people by keeping those who need to be in prison, in prison. However, I do believe that some one with the views like Lipinski would not be 100% opposed to changing sentencing and how it is done. I just think he wouldnt agree with certain components of the bill.

Unit 3 Blog Post

Alec Pratt
March 1, 2016
Unit 3

Super Tuesday: CNN projects Clinton wins Georgia, Virginia; Sanders takes Vermont
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/super-tuesday-highlights/index.html

As the race for the Oval Office in 2016 continues, candidates are becoming more desperate to win delegates and votes from those through the country. Super Tuesday is one the most important primary days in the election cycle. The recent projections and results from these primaries have gone to show major increase in the delegate counts for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Other candidates are considered to be getting small, but still very important delegates from these primaries. Candidates like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio need these delegates if they wish to continue to run and actually have a chance of getting the nomination.

In order to be the nominee for a party, candidates must have a majority of delegates at the their respective national convention. Today, many voters casted their votes for who they wish to be the nominee. Super Tuesday is such a vital component to the presidential race. hile these primaries only give their delegates out proportionally, winning a lot of delegates is major to win the nomination. Republicans need 1237 delegates at the convention in order to win the majority. Donald Trump, the Republican front runner, has still under 100 delegates. Gaining a lot of delegates from these primaries will be monumental for his campaign. In other campaigns, a win in Texas would be critical for the Senator Ted Cruz, and a win in Virginia would be important for Senator Marco Rubio, seeing he has not won a single primary or caucus. In the Democratic side, the recent dominance by Hillary Clinton has started to seperate her from Bernie Sanders. Hillary has been projected to win important states Georgia, Virginia and Texas. Senator Sanders is projected to only have won so far Vermont (These projections are all at the time of this blog being written, and may not be factual.)The media has held low coverage to these primaries and caucuses due to the large influence media has on voting, and how much these votes matter to the nominee process. All results from these primaries and caucuses are very important to the continuation of candidates campaigns. It is predicted that all candidates,excluding Dr. Ben Carson, are to remain in the race even without major wins today.