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Politics
Sunday Funday: Daily Show on SCOTUS and Campaign Finance
Sunday Funday: Daily Show on SCOTUS and Campaign Finance
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down McCutcheon v. FEC, striking down campaign finance law which limited aggregate federal campaign contributions. The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart lampooned the decisions and the majority Justices’ alleged political naivete.
Here is a description of the opening clip:
A historic Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance offers a resounding victory for the rich that pales only in comparison to the gains Citizens United made for corporations.
Here is a description of a clip with “Senior Legal Analyst” Aasif Mandvi:
Senior Legal Analyst Aasif Mandvi explains how political representation in America is relative to net worth.
This post was originally published on the SLACE Archive. For more public policy related video/audio, be sure to check out the SLACE Archive for daily podcast recommendations.
Economics of the Ukrainian Crisis
Economics of the Ukrainian Crisis
With Russian on the march in Crimea, NPR’s Planet Money podcast recently discussed the economics of the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine and the role natural gas plays in the dispute.
Here is a description of the podcast from the Planet Money Blog:
On today’s show, how a policy that made natural gas very cheap for every household in Ukraine almost bankrupted the nation. And how that led, in part, to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Speech At Syracuse University
Recently, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand spoke at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University as part of the State of Democracy Lecture series.
Here is a description of the talk:
Gillibrand’s talk, “The American Opportunity Agenda,” addressed proposals to help more middle-class women workers gain financial security by modernizing America’s outdated workplace policies.Gillibrand was first sworn in as U.S. senator from New York in January 2009. Prior to her service in the Senate, she served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing 10 counties in upstate New York’s 20th congressional district. She serves on the Senate agriculture, armed services, and aging committees.
New Report Says Syria Responsible for Death, Possible Torture of 11,000
New Report Says Syria Responsible for Death, Possible Torture of 11,000
By
David Kailer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25836550
The BBC’s report tracks a report released on the eve of the “biggest diplomatic effort yet to end a three-year conflict that has left more than 100,000 dead and millions displaced”. The convention, commonly known as Geneva II, will convene to discuss resolving the worsening situation in Syria.
The report was comprised with the cooperation of a “defected military police photographer” known as “Caesar”, who was in charge of photographing the dead to assist in producing death certificates and to confirm that executions had been completed. “There could be as many as 50 bodies a day to photograph…” Many of the bodies show signs of beating and emaciation, the consistency over the corpses suggesting to Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice “that the scale and consistency of the killings provided strong evidence of government involvement that could support a criminal prosecution”.
The article also tracks a developing argument over the legitimacy of the report, whether the photographs were actually from within Syria, and whether the report was financed by the country of Qatar, which a spokeman for the Syrian Ministry of Information suggested should completely undermine the findings of the report because of Qatar’s interests in the region.
Marie Harf of the U.S. State Department was quoted as saying, “The situation on the ground is so horrific that we need to get a political transition in place, and we need to get the Assad regime out of power.”
Is American or United Nations intervention appropriate? If so, what form should it take? What concerns would you have about America getting involved in another political struggle abroad?