Chief of Staff Changes

1. What event has caused Trump to make changes to his staff and advisers?

• John Kelly is leaving his role as chief of staff and so Trump has to replace him. Also, because of the midterm elections with the Democrats taking the House, he wants to shake up the personnel.

2. How did CNN describe the relationship between the president and the Chief of Staff this week?

• CNN said that Kelly and Trump were no longer even speaking to each other.

3. Who was Trump's original Chief of Staff and what job did he come from before that?

• Trump's original Chief of Staff was Reince Priebus, and his former job was the RNC chair.

4. Why did Trump pick Kelly (the military general) to become his new Chief of Staff?

• He picked Kelly because he wanted a tough guy to fix the White House chaos that was because of Priebus and that Priebus was too weak and a military general would look good.

5. In what ways did Kelly influence policy making while he was Chief of Staff?

• He influenced policy while he was Chief of Staff concerning immigration. He is a great obstacle in DACA and has hardline views on immigration.

Gerrymandering!

1. Look at the map.  By what margins did Democrats win in the 3 districts that they won?

• 40, 48, 46

2. Look at the map.  By what margins did Republicans win in the 9 districts that they won?

• 20, 19, 14, 6, 11, 13, 0.3, 13, 5

3. What percent of the votes for Representatives did Republicans and Democrats earn statewide?

• Republicans: 50%
• Democrats: 48%

4. What have federal courts said about the district lines in North Carolina?

• They said that the lines were unconstitutional.

5. What did Democrats fail to do in both North Carolina and Ohio?

• Democrats failed to pick up a single House seat despite winning close to half of the popular vote.

6. Why did Pennsylvania have new districts for this election? What was the result of the House elections in Pennsylvania this year?

• Pennsylvania had new districts for this election because their old lines were very partisan and in favor of the Republicans. The House seats for Pennsylvania went from 13 Republicans and 5 Democrats to 9 Republicans and 9 Democrats.

7. How does the article describe the residential patterns of Republicans and Democrats?

• Democrats tend to be concentrated in urban areas, while Republicans are distributed more across suburban and rural areas.

8. After the district lines were rejected because they were based on race, what justification was used for the new district lines?

• He says it is based on political parties and not by race.

9. How do the district lines counter the large number of Democratic votes in cities like Greensboro, Winston Salem, and Fayetteville?

• They split the votes of the cities between two big red districts.

10. What other laws has North Carolina passed that disenfranchised voters in the state?

• Very restrictive voter ID law which targeted African Americans

FoxNews & the Agenda

1. In the two weeks approaching the mid term elections, what % of coverage did FoxNews dedicate to coverage of the caravan in Central America?

• 3%

2. Compare mentions on CNN and Fox on Monday & Tuesday to mentions on Wednesday & Thursday.

• On Monday, CNN and Fox News mentioned the caravan more than 80 times. On Tuesday, more than 40 times. On Wednesday and Thursday, the subject was raised fewer than 80 times across CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and Fox Business combined.

3. Which of the four networks covered by the chart devoted the most coverage to the caravan?

• Fox Business

4. Where does the article claim that the caravan is currently?

• It reached Mexico City

5. What other stories may have taken coverage away from the caravan?

• Midterm elections results, the resignation of Jeff Sessions, Trump’s interactions with the press, the synagogue mass shooting, and the attempted mail bombings.

6. How did Trump impact coverage of the caravan leading up to the election?

• He framed it as a campaign issue in many speeches and announced policy that stems the number of people in caravans who can apply for asylum.

7. What event had a similar impact on the 2016 election?

• FBI Director James B. Comey’s announcement of the discovery of new emails related to Hillary Clinton

8. What event had a similar impact on the 2014 election?

• Ebola crisis

9. Why does the article suggest that Fox may have covered the caravan more than other networks?

• Because Fox's audience is largely Trump supporters and the coverage is a function of the campaign.

Election Results

1. Why don't all polls close at exactly the same time?

• They don't close at the same time because people are allowed to cast a ballot as long as they’re in line at the polling station by closing time, so they actually close later than closing time.

2. What do poll workers at each site have to do once voting is complete in order for votes to be counted?

• Poll workers have to shut down the voting machines and download or pull the memory card or stick that stores the votes. They might also run or print out a summary of the voting machine.

3. In what ways are the actual vote counts delivered from actual polling places to the central location of election administration?

• The results may be read over the phone, some machines have a modem that connect directly to a telephone line, and some memory cards or sticks are physically delivered.

4. Why might the votes come in slower from rural areas?

• They are far from the county seat or official headquarters, which can slow down and complicate the vote tabulation process.

5. Why might journalists be the first source of election results in some states but not in all states?

• In some states, the election commission doesn't report anything that night, so the journalists are the first to report. In others, as the votes are tallied it will show up on the state's official website.

6. Why may absentee ballots slow the official election results?

• Counting those ballots can take days, so they can't finalize results.

7. What are provisional ballots?

• They are “just in case” voting ballots and are distributed if someone shows up to vote and his or her name doesn’t appear on the voter rolls, the incorrect information is listed, or it looks like that person already voted.

8. Why are the official results made public much later than when the election is "called"?

• The official results are made public much later because they have to be canvassed, where each vote is counted and verified, then officially certified, first by the local counties and then by the secretary of state or state Board of Elections. There can also be disputes.

9. Why was the speed of getting election results emphasized during the Progressive Era?

• The faster the votes are counted, the less time there is for someone to mess with it and cause fraud.

Ending Birthright Citizenship

1. What is the actual change Trump wants to make to US citizenship policy?

• Trump wants to end birthright citizenship for children born in the US to unauthorized immigrant parents.

2. What does the Constitution say about citizenship?

• The Constitution, more specifically the 14th Amendment, says that all persons born in the US and “subject to the jurisdiction of its laws” are citizens.

3. How does Trump give false information about the US compared to the rest of the world about this issue?

• Trump claims the US is the only country that extends automatic citizenship to everyone born on its soil when in fact, more than 30 do.

4. What steps would have to take place before Trump was ready to sign an executive order?

• Before he signs an EO, it would need extensive review from the Department of Justice to assess its legality, and from the Department of Homeland Security and other departments to work out consequences.

5. What did the Supreme Court decide in Wong Kim Ark?

• That the children of noncitizens born in the United States are citizens.

6. Why might the Trump Administration feel that INS v Rios Pineda gives him legal grounds to issue this EO?

• He feels that this case gives him legal grounds to issue this EO because it has never been specifically upheld that children of unauthorized immigrants born in the United States are citizens, and in this case, someone challenged his deportation order because of her two U.S. born children, and a legal finding was never done in this regard.

7. Why might recent changes to the Supreme Court make the president confident that the SC would side with his actions?

• There are two Trump appointed justices, and the court is conservative so he believes they will side with him.

Carbon Taxes

1.  What action has Exxon taken to promote a carbon tax?

• Exxon has endorsed the Climate Leadership Council's carbon tax proposal and is putting up $1 million to lobby for it.

2.  How does this article define a carbon tax?

• A per-ton tax on the carbon dioxide emissions embedded in fuels or other products.

3.  What would be the predicted impact of a $50 per ton carbon tax?

• Emissions would fall 39 to 46 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, which is much ahead of the Paris goal.

4.  How expensive would the tax need to be to reduce emissions by 80%?

• It would have to exceed $100 per ton.

5.  Which industry would be most impacted by the implementation of a carbon tax?

• Electricity

6. How would the carbon tax impact the transportation industry?

• A $50 carbon tax would reduce emissions from the transportation industry just 2 percent, because there aren't really liquid fuel alternatives, and the only way to reduce emissions would be to drive less.

7. Why is the carbon tax likely to be a regressive tax?

• It is regressive because it hits the poor harder than the rich because the poor spend a larger percentage of their income on energy services.

Foreign Policy Trouble!

1. What is the last that anyone knows about journalist Jamal Khashoggi?

• Jamal Khashoggi was last seen October 2 walking to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document verifying his divorce so that he could marry his Turkish fiancée.

2. What does Turkey say happened?  What does Saudi Arabia say happened?

• Turkey says that they have concrete evidence that Khashoggi was gruesomely murdered in the building.
• Saudi Arabia says that nothing happened and that he went out through a back exit.

3. Why would the Saudi Arabian government have motive to murder him?

• The Saudi government had motive to murder him because he fled Saudi Arabia out of fear of arrest from criticizing a prince. He resettled in the United States and is a contributor to the Washington Post criticizing the Saudi government, so they have motive to murder him. 

4. How has Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tried to change Saudi Arabia?

• He has tried to change Saudi Arabia loosening restrictions on women driving and opening up cinemas in the Kingdom, but he’s also led a purge of opposition within his government and led a bloody war with Yemen that’s left tens of thousands dead.

5. How did Khashoggi come to work for The Washington Post instead of the Saudi paper Al Watan?

• He left Saudi Arabia because he of fear of arrest by the Crown Prince for criticizing the government. He settled down in the US and began contributing to The Washington Post so that he could criticize the Saudi government safely from afar.

6. Why did he visit the Saudi Consulate in Turkey?

• To file paperwork needed for his upcoming wedding to a Turkish woman, Hatice Cengiz.

7.  The US is an ally of both.  Why don't they get along?

• Saudi Arabia is engaged in an ongoing blockade of Qatar, one of Turkey’s allies, and Riyadh doesn’t agree with Turkey’s embrace of political Islam or its close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

8. How is the president responding to the issue?  How are Senators responding?

• The president says that US-Saudi relations are excellent, but they are still trying to figure out the fate of the journalist through Saudi and Turkish investigators. Senators turned up the pressure on the Trump administration by requesting that the US impose sanctions on anyone who was responsible for the journalist’s disappearance. They called for the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US to sanction individuals who have committed human rights abuses anywhere in the world.

9. Why doesn't the president want to cause too much trouble with Saudi Arabia?

• He didn’t want to risk losing a lucrative weapons sale to Saudi Arabia.

New SCOTUS Term

1. What is the earliest that Brett Kavanaugh could join the Supreme Court if he is approved by the Senate?

• Kavanaugh can join the SCOTUS in a week at the earliest.

2. What does the Supreme Court do without a 9th justice?

• The SCOTUS performs perfectly fine with 8 justices.

3. What is the potential problem with having only 8 justices?

• The only problem is if they are in the situation where there is a 4-4 vote on a case and they can't make a ruling. They can just wait a few months until it is possible to make a 5-4 vote with the 9th judge.

4. How many cases are already scheduled to be heard by the Court?

• 23 cases.

5. If Judge Kavanaugh does join the Court, what happens to the cases that he has not heard?

• He can look at the transcripts and notes and give his input if the justices want it.

6. What is the upcoming Supreme Court case about that deals with the 8th amendment?

• It deals if  the Eighth Amendment stops the execution of someone who no longer remembers the crime they committed after suffering several strokes.

7. What is the result if the Supreme Court decision is a 4-4 tie?

• The lower court's ruling stays in effect.

25th Amendment

1. How did Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein react to President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey?

• He was bewildered and said that he could possibly call upon Jeff Sessions and John Kelly to invoke the 25th amendment.

2. What does Section 4 of the 25th Amendment give the Cabinet the power to do?  Why would they do this?

• It gives the vice president and a majority of sitting Cabinet secretaries the power to decide that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” and send it to the Speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore.
• They would do this to remove an unfit president from power, or just to remove him from power in general.

3. What does Congress do if the Cabinet exercises this power?

• If the president refutes it, then within 21 days (if not in this time period president keeps power), Congress votes on if the president is unfit, needing 2/3 votes to deem he is unfit in each house.

4. What happened to the presidency when James Garfield or Woodrow Wilson were unable to fulfill their duties as POTUS?

• They just remained president and didn't do much for those months.

5. What event finally got Congress to address the problems with presidential succession?

• The assassination of JFK.

6. Besides the powers adressed in #2, what else is covered in the 25th Amendment?

• If a president died or resigned or was convicted of impeachment crimes, the vice president would become president, and it said a simple way to fill a vacant vice presidency in which the president nominates someone, and both Houses of Congress take a vote. It also covered for an injured president to voluntarily transfer their powers to the vice president and then easily get them back with a written declaration that he was healthy again.

7. What would have to happen in order for VP Mike Pence to assume power right now?

• He and a majority of sitting Cabinet secretaries the power to decide that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” and send it in writing to the Speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore, then Mike Pence takes power. If Trump refutes this, then in 21 days if 2/3 of each house says Trump is unfit, then Pence can keep power.

8. What does "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." mean?

• It could mean a lot of things, like poor physical health, mental health, judgement, or just disagreement.

9. What could the president do if he disagrees with his Cabinet?

• He could tell the Speaker of the House and the Senate pro tem that he is not unable to perform duties, and if it is still said by the cabinet and VP that he is unable, then it goes to Congress.

10. How does this article differentiate this action from a coup?

• It is different from a coup because it is legal and constitutional.

The Right to Vote

1. What does the "original Constitution" (Articles 1-7 only, no amendments) say about voting rights?

• The original Constitution said that voting rights are left to the states and that it wasn't an inalienable right, but a privilege.

2. What does Lichtman mean when he says voting amendments are in "negative terms"?

• He means that the amendments are phrased to what the states can't do, and aren't in affirmative right to vote. This leaves the right to vote to be fragile.

3. Why does he think that the Framers left the right to vote guarantee out of the Constitution?

• He thinks that the Framers left the right to vote guarantee out of the Constitution because they believed voting should be restricted to those who held property or at minimum paid taxes.

4. Why does he say that we are now in a "period of backsliding" when it comes to voting rights?

• He believes that we are in a period of backsliding because we have new and obscure forms of voter disenfranchisement.

5. What forms of voter suppression does he mention?

• He mentions ID laws, registration purges, racial/political gerrymandering, and the disenfranchisement of felons.

6. Why is it difficult to overturn laws that suppress voting rights?

• It is difficult to overturn these laws because the judiciary is conservative and will let the states do as they please.

7. Where does he expect to see the biggest changes in the protections of voting rights to come from?

• He expects to see the biggest changes in the state courts instead of the federal courts.

8. What was strange about the way votes in Florida were counted in the 2000 elections?

• One out of every 10 African-American votes were discounted, whereas only one out of every 50 white votes were discounted.

9. How many states added photo ID laws for voters after Barack Obama's election in 2008?

• 15 states have added photo ID laws since 2008.

10. What kinds of policies does Lichtman suggest that the US needs?

• He suggests that the US needs anti-gerrymandering reforms, same-day voter registration, and automatic registration.

Senate Election Preview

1. To win control of the Senate, Democrats will need to win most or all of West Virginia, North Dakota, Missouri, Montana, Indiana, Florida, and then win the Republican-held seats in Arizona, Nevada, and maybe Tennessee or Texas.
2. 10 Senate races are competitive.
3. It will be difficult for Heidi Heitkamp to win reelection because the Republicans chose a strong candidate, Kevin Cramner. He is allied closely with Trump on key issues such as energy, and although Trump's support is declining in North Dakota, Trump has 50% approval and Heidi has 44% approval, making it difficult for her.
4. Polling tells us that this is the tightest race, with a 0.6 point separation between McCaskill and Hawley. McCaskill is not in the lead.
5. The interesting situation that Heller is in is that he would support the governor's opinion on repealing Medicaid, and the governor said that he did not support repealing it. However, he starting voting for repeal policies after Trump talked to him and apparently some outside GOP money. The state does not really like Trump (45% approval, 51% disapproval).
6. The two candidates in Tennessee are Marsha Blackburn (R) and Phil Bredesen (D). Tennessee has majority support for Trump (56% approval, 40% disapproval).
7. The advantage Rick Scott has over Bill Nelson is that Scott has a lot of money, and has outspent Nelson on a 4-1 scale.
8. The Florida governor race may impact the election because Andrew Gillum is the Democratic nominee for governor and is the first black candidate for governor in Florida, so it may give the Democrats a boost in the Senate election.
9. Senator Flake has taken the stance of constantly criticizing Trump, but he still votes for his agenda every time.
10. What has changed about the Senate race in Texas since the beginning of summer was that at the beginning of summer, Cruz was doing very well and leading by double digits, his lead has dwindled to single digits and he is not doing as well.
11. Joe Donnelly avoids associating himself with the Democrats because Indiana is a very Republican state and so he only proclaims himself Democrat when absolutely necessary, like with Obamacare.
12. It is strange that a Democrat represents West Virginia because the state is so heavily conservative (63% support Trump).

SCOTUS Nominee

1. The Senate Judiciary Committee holds the meeting and it is expected to go all week. 
2. The purpose of these hearings is to vet contenders for the high court. They use it to shed light on the nominee's record and legal reasoning.
3. Democrats are arguing that this judge may have a conflict of interest in the future because he may one day rule on the elements of the Mueller investigation.
4. Most people expect that Kavanaugh will be confirmed.
5. Before he was nominated to this post, Kavanaugh was first working for two federal appellate judges, then worked in the solicitor general's office under George H.W. Bush, and next clerked for Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. He is currently working for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
6. His role in the Clinton investigation is important to some people because he originally worked to indict Clinton, but now he has flipped his beliefs and says a president should not be indicted in office, which means if Trump has charges against him, he does not believe he should be indicted in office.
7. His opinions on health care and abortion are most important to Democrats.
8. 28 witnesses will be questioned as well during these hearings.
9. The purpose on the Committee voting on Kavanaugh is that they will decide whether to recommend he be confirmed, rejected, or given no recommendation to the Senate, who decides on the appointments.
10. A simple majority of 51 votes is required to confirm him. Republicans have enough votes now because they currently hold the majority.
11. The approach of the Democrats is that they are working to fire up grassroots protesters based off Kavanaugh's performance and get enough people to call their Congressmen to oppose the nominee.

Replacing a Senator

1. John McCain's role in the federal government was his position as a senator for thirty years.
2. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey is required to fill the vacancy.
3. The replacement will serve until 2020.
4. The restriction on the replacement is that he must be the same party as McCain (Republican).
5. Voters will not vote on his replacement because he did not leave office before May 30, so his seat was not on the ballot, and nothing in the Constitution calls for a special election.
6. Republicans are happy that this seat is not on the ballot because a Republican must be appointed so a Democrat cannot be voted in and take the seat.
7. Republicans have a 51 seat majority.
8. McCain's replacement may be better for Republicans than McCain was because McCain was a less reliable Republican vote than many of his colleagues, so his replacement is likely to be more in agreement with the rest of the GOP.

Curt's the best!!!!!!!