The date was December 14th, 2012. A lone gunman shot his mother and took three of her guns to Sandy Hook Elementary School. Sandy Hook had 700 students in attendance that day-about double the size of my elementary school.   He was dressed in all black fatigues carrying a semi-automatic AR-15 and two pistols and shot entrance into the school.  This began the day that will forever live in infamy. The town of Newtown, Connecticut has a population only 6,000 more than Avon Lake and has a similar demographic breakdown. Twenty elementary-level students and six adults were shot and killed in one of the most horrific mass shootings in American history. This was the day that changed everything.

The president addressed the nation that day, but something was different about this address. He was notably affected, pale, clammy, fighting back tears. This shooting changed Barack Obama. People everywhere called for gun control. The Republican-held congress was unable to pass any sensible gun control. This forced Barack Obama into passing 25 executive orders aimed at making it harder for the mentally-ill, and criminals to get deadly weapons. That brings us to recently, when Barack Obama set in place about a dozen more executive orders.

These executive orders-despite the screams of many Republican candidates(also known as gun lobby puppets)- are not aimed at "infringing upon the second amendment". These orders are aimed at enforcing existing law. It raises the staff of the federal background check division of the FBI by 50 percent. Puts in place a plan to hire an additional 200 people to focus on gun regulations and offenses. It lastly aims to focus on firearm safety research.


The most important of these actions is shrinking the gun show loophole. Under current federal law, background checks aren't required at a gun show. Making it easy for a criminal to purchase a weapon without a background check. Now you may be thinking, this is an obscure detail, how many people really purchase their guns from a gun show? About 20-30 of gun purchases are purchased at a gun show. Barack Obama's order however doesn't close the loophole entirely but merely shrinks it. These are common sense measures to make America safer.

Ben Carson has no idea what he's doing

Ben Carson is a quiet neurosurgeon from Detroit Michigan who has had one of the most uniquely American stories in recent history. His mother and him lived in the ghetto of Detroit and against all odds, he became the chief pediatric neurosurgeon at John Hopkins. Despite his success and skills in the medical field, Ben Carson is one of the craziest presidential candidate in recent history.

Ben Carson shows a lack of ability to grasp foreign affairs. This report comes from one of his top advisors who was hired to give Carson weekly briefs on foreign policy in order to "make him smart". Carson is also a hardcore Christian who takes the bible literally. He came out the other week to stand by his 1998 comments that pyramids were made so Joseph could store grain and not as tombs. Being a Christian is a great commitment, one that I personally admire. However, Mr. Carson's faith effects his politics to a degree unprecedented around modernized countries.

Carson would like to use tithing instead of a income tax, using the bible as a point. However, there's a problem with taxing everyone only 10 percent. That leaves a 1.1 trillion dollar deficit. To gain perspective of this, our current deficit is near 500 billion dollars a year. If Ben Carson was able to put forth his tax plan he would raise the deficit 200%. This is coming from the current runner-up in a party whose values used to be fiscal responsibility. When the moderators called out this at the CNBC debate the right complained of media bias and a misunderstanding of the actual plan. I truly believe that not only did the moderators not understand Carson's plan; Carson himself doesn't understand his plan.

Fox Business Debate

I've done it. I've made it through this many Republican debates without losing any hair, but I see trouble going forward. At this point it's no longer fun, it's like watching a Browns game-I'm willing to accept how horrible and what a waste of time it will be, but I still watch hoping for something great to happen (maybe Carson will stab someone again). Something wonderful did happen, Donald Trump expressed his approval and made case for a US operation from the 50's called Operation: Wetback. During this Operation near 200,000 (although Trump said 1.5 million) illegal immigrants were moved south of the border. Trump stated that Eisenhower carried this out humanely and said that Operation Wetback was what we need today.

However, Operation Wetback was a very, very inhumane program and not just because its obvious racism. It caused chaos for Mexico, as 200,000 people were thrown into their economy, housing and country as a whole. Also, 88 people died from heat stroke as the American government dumped them off into a desert, 25 percent of the people transported by boat from Port Isabel were also in something resembling a "penal hell ship".

Trump was't the only controversy of the night. Senator Ted Cruz became the second statesman from Texas to forget the branches of government he wanted to modify (shoutout to Rick Perry, my favorite presidential candidate of all time). Trump yelled at former CEO Carly Fiorina for interrupting Rand Paul, someone who Trump has also bullied. Fiorina has now become known as the candidate who told the fake abortion video story. The current field of candidates is turning into a joke, this doesn't really mirror a debate at all. A debate involving ten people is impossible. Hopefully some of the current candidates drop out in favor of a more democratic debate process.

Are you ready for Hillary?

Hillary Clinton is an accomplished senator, Secretary of State, and businesswoman. Despite all her expertise she has trouble in one area:getting the American people to trust her. A Quinnipiac University poll suggests that Clinton's polls in both favorability and trustworthiness are falling. She has a hard time conveying to the American people that she genuinely cares for their problems and will fight for them. She's changed her opinion on a variety of issues probably because of the left-leaning candidate taking away from her poll numbers. If you can believe it, people rank Donald Trump as more trustworthy.

Many Liberals, myself included, don't get fired up to Clinton's speeches the same way we did to Obama's notoriously famous keynote speech at the 2004 DNC. I have yet to see a single speech of Hillary's that has gotten me fired up, even to the amount of Obama's worst speeches. I saw myself in Barack Obama, we were both raised by our mom and grandparents and worked hard to overcome obstacles despite lack of paternal leadership. In 2012 I went out with my grandfather and canvassed for Obama-informing people voting dates and taking policy questions. After he won the election my grandparents sent me a video of Obama addressing young participants. In the video when Barack speaks about how he realizes the impact he's made on getting kids to get involved he starts to cry.

The way that President Obama spoke and the way I got chills and tears (manly tears of course) from that video has never been reproduced by any Hillary speech I watched. While I think she has some great policy ideas, mostly because of the time she's had to prep for the 2016 election, I don't see her lighting a fire under people to get out and be active. Many people don't see her as a genuine person, she came out against the Keystone pipeline when she used to be for it and she came out against Obama's trade program that she was really the writer of. Many people feel ready for Hillary but are like me- will vote for her, but aren't willing to do the work they did for Barack to elect her. She's a calculating politician which will be a trouble spot for her in the future.

Planned Parenthood

Last week, I wrote my blog on a range of Women's issues so today as the topic starts to cool down, I thought it was fitting to write on Planned Parenthood. Carly Fiorina recently went on a rant at the CNN debate. She urged Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to watch the video of a fetus having its brain harvested while it's feet were still kicking after being aborted. This is a result of the recent attack on Planned Parenthood by conservatives. I'd agree with Mrs. Fiorina that what she described would be wrong and very immoral. The problem is, not a single word of it was true. There is no evidence that this abortion was performed in America, let alone at a PP clinic. Not only that, but doctors who have watched the video say the fetus was already dead. 

Many people disagree with fetal tissue research but this field of research provides many vaccines that we wouldn't be able to live without today. Rabies, rubella, and hepatitis vaccines were all derived from fetal cells. If conservatives don't like abortion I have no problem with that, but when you take advantage of a sting video from wherever and mislead the American public into thinking that the president is aborting babies for fun, that's when Americans should call BS. We should expect more from our politicians and we should demand more. This means that moderators at the debates should call BS on a candidate when the candidate says something not true. When Ben Carson talked about his fairy-tale tax plan, moderators called him out and conservatives everywhere were heard with cries of "the lame stream media". Moderators should've done the exact same thing to Fiorina when she lied about the fetus video.

Planned Parenthood spends zero percent of the money they get from the government on abortions. In fact, 97 percent of Planned Parenthood's procedures are not abortion related. These include prenatal screening for low-income women, and other type of consulting that low-income women can't afford. That sounds like an American idea to me. Using medicare and Medicaid to help lower income people get the quality care they deserve. The idea of helping others should be accepted-by both parties- as the American Dream.

Abortion/Women's Issues/Nostalgic Rants

I was raised in a home where my father was out of the picture. My mother was the one who raised me. I am eternally grateful to my mother for making me the man I am today and it's because of that I am so passionate on women's issues. It amazes me when candidates like Scott Walker can believe that abortion is immoral even in the case of health concerns to the mother. Republicans hate big government, except when it prevents women to get health services. You also don't hear them providing alternatives to abortion those who oppose abortion should be for contraceptives! People who oppose contraceptives are especially concerning as they want to stop abortions, just not in the modern techniques. Abstinence shouldn't and will not be considered a contraceptive.

I believe that all life is precious. I try to be consistent on most issues to protect human life at all cost.  I believe that healthcare is a right and droning populated areas in the Middle East is a wrong (which is grammatically incorrect but it flows well). That being said, many find my position on abortion baffling compared to my otherwise pro-life beliefs. I don't believe life starts at contraception, and I think that belief is becoming increasingly fallacious. When I (or anyone else) state my age I start counting at when I was born. I was born on April 3, 1998 so I am 17 years old. If life truly began at contraception I would have to add 9 months, give or take, to my age. What truly baffles me is how people can be so pro-life, even to the extent of danger to the mother, while being mostly anti-life on other issues.

You'd think the party of the pro-life agenda would be in favor of other pro-life policies. They should be for healthcare for all, against guns, against droning, anti-capital punishment and pro-environment. The funny thing about that is that most the time it's the exact opposite. President Obama's second largest margin of victory in the 2012 election came within the demographic of single women.

Out of all the issues that the Republican party is out of touch with, I believe women's issues are one of its more out of touch positions. Many of my conservative friends do not believe in the women's pay gap. I believe in equality and choosing the best person for the job but it doesn't seem to be a coincidence that only 22 of the fortune 500 CEOs are women. I have even heard classmates and congressmen argue that women already have equal rights.

Last election cycle you heard certain GOP representatives state that the female body has ways to prevent pregnancy following rape. Considering that one in five women are raped in college the GOP should not become involved with an issue as serious as how a women should handle being raped and what they should do afterwards. I know many women who have gone through a horrible situation and telling them how to handle a tragedy is similar to telling a veteran with PTSD to stop being self-centered and only thinking about themselves. The current Republican party handles women's issues worse than they handle three CNBC moderators.

Women's issues will be one of the most important topics of the 2016 election. Many people are becoming aware of the current pay gap and despite the right's hardest efforts, most people support Planned Parenthood. The Republican party is soon going to learn  about women what they've already learned from latinos:There are a lot of them and they have the ability to vote. The Republican party will never win another presidential election if they continue to disenfranchise such large and important demographics.

Democratic Debate

After two republican debates that resembled a food fight, many were interested to see what the Democrats had to offer in their first debate on Wednesday. The first Democratic debate had a very different tone than the Republican debates. There were far less arguments and more of a discussion on issues concerning the American people. Not surprisingly, there were also about ten million less viewers than the Republican debate. Although it sounds horrible, people do not want to hear the news or issues going on around them. Ordinary citizens would much rather watch Donald Trump scream at Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish in his home (around his Spanish-speaking wife and son) than they would listen to candidates discuss fiscally-responsible ways to address the issue of mass pollution or how to fix Social Security without taking away benefits from retirees.

The night of the debate was full of fake smiles and phrases that candidate’s staffs have most likely tested with poll groups weeks before the debate. First off, watching the debate one wonders why candidates such as Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee are doing on stage, as they couldn’t even be president of a club at ALHS, let alone the country. The 2016 election cycle has changed around politics. Establishment politicians and experience are out, and being able to separate Siamese twins is now an ample qualification to be president (I’m looking at you Ben Carson).  Although there are general trends in the new age of politics, the Republican and Democratic debates couldn’t have been more different. The Democratic debate was much more issue-driven and soft-spoken than the Republican debate.

Hillary Clinton clearly won the debate, and not because she had the most energy, or the best lines of the night, but because she didn’t lose. In order to “win” the debate all Hillary had to do was not crumble under the pressure of her scandals and be able to relate herself to the public. Hillary’s hardest challenge going forward will be to get the American people to trust her and the easiest way she can do that is by being herself.

Although Bernie Sanders is incredibly idealistic, he has a foolproof way to campaign. He is genuine and doesn’t filter his words in a way that many politicians do. He received a standing ovation with the phrase “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.” He isn’t afraid of identifying as a socialist and makes a good case for progressive policies to be incorporated into the system. Bernie seems to attract many young voters with his ideas. His biggest issue is focusing on income inequality and equal opportunity for Americans, whether you’re born as one as one of Donald Trump’s children or in the areas of the country that have been hit hardest by the recession. The idea of rising from the bottom of the economic latter to the top is something uniquely American. Bernie has been able to attract huge crowds for his events with the idea that we should all have an equal opportunity to succeed. Bernie is the left’s best shot at having a president who fights for it’s values in a similar manner that FDR did.

After years of Europeans critiquing our political system as dominated by rich boring old white men, we have made a change. After watching the first three debates I think everyone can agree that our rich old white men have stepped up in the entertainment category. We did it America! Our politicians may still be white, rich and usually male, but at least we’re not boring. Take that Europe.