What The Federal Reserve's Decision To Raise Interest Rates Means For You - In Less Than 40 Seconds12/17/2015
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The last GOP presidential debate of 2015 is over! The debate was a crucial moment for Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Marco Rubio (Florida) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
As with the first debate of the night, this debate focused on national security in the wake of recent terrorist attacks carried out or influenced by ISIS. The debate featured: Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky). Sen. Ted Cruz has been steadily rising in the polls and this debate was an opportunity to keep that momentum. Meanwhile, Carson has seen his poll numbers plummet in the wake of terrorist attacks. The debate started out focusing on Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. “We are not talking about isolation, we’re talking about security. We’re not talking about religion, we’re talking about security,” Trump said when asked if his Muslim ban is an isolationist approach. “I will build a wall, it will be a great wall,” he added. “Banning all Muslims will make it harder to do exactly what we need to do, which is defeat ISIS,” Jeb Bush said, claiming that the ban is not a serious proposal. When asked why Cruz disagrees with Trump’s proposal, he said that the threat does not come from the Islamic faith - as evidenced by the fact that there are many Muslim nations that do not suffer from violence caused by terrorist organizations like the Islamic State. He argued that Trump’s proposal declares war on the Islamic faith rather than the real problem. “It’s not a war on a faith. It’s a war on a political and theocratic ideology that seeks to murder us,” Cruz said. When asked if President George W. Bush’s statement “Islam is peace,” is still relevant to the Republican Party, Bush said it is if the United States wants to defeat ISIS. He said banning Muslims from entering the country would alienate Arab nations, “If we expect to do this on our own, we will fail,” he said. When asked if the private sector should be forced to cooperate with law enforcement, Florina argued that the private sector does not need to be forced to do anything, it just needs to be asked to cooperate. Gov. Kasich argued that the time limits on the metadata program was prohibiting law enforcement’s ability to track suspected terrorists. But focused on the issue of encryption, where law enforcement cannot read the messages of suspected terrorists. Sen. Paul argued that members of the government made a mistake by pushing for regime change across the Middle East and North Africa. He argued that the toppling of governments created power vacuums which helped lead to the increase of safe havens for terrorist organizations. Sen. Cruz said the United States should not try to topple Syrian President Assad, because Assad is fighting ISIS. He argued that removing Assad would give ISIS more power without another military force fighting the terrorist organization. “The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we have to work with them,” Sen. Rubio said arguing that the U.S. will have to work with as many governments as it can. But he said ant-American governments should be toppled. On immigration, most candidates agreed that there needs to be more border security but they varied over whether or not to provide a path to citizenship. On the issue of the Syrian refugee crisis, candidates almost all agreed that the U.S. should not accept any Syrian refugees. Candidates varied on the length of the ban, with some arguing it should be temporary until law enforcement can develop a better vetting process. When asked how the U.S. should deal with North Korea, Russia, and China, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson urged using economic means to push back against aggressions without military force. Gov. Chris Christie said he would fight back against Chinese cyber attacks by ordering cyber attacks on China. Christie said the U.S. would “go with the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them,” in cyber attacks. When asked about Trump’s attack on Cruz, he responded by saying, “Having gotten to know him over the past three or four days, he has a wonderful temperament.” Donald Trump had one of his best debate performances yet. Sen. Cruz also had a good, he took some fire from the candidates but defended himself well. Gov. Christie also had a good night. Sen. Marco Rubio’s was put on the defensive a lot especially with national security and privacy. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had a bad night as his attacks on Donald Trump backfired. The last undercard debate of 2015, and possibly the rest of the election cycle, is over! Following the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, the CNN debate focused on national security, combating ISIS, and the Syrian refugee crisis.
This last debate of the year comes as the future of the undercard debates is uncertain with the Iowa caucus approaching, therefore it was a crucial debate for these candidates who have been struggling to gain traction. The debate featured: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Sen. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), and former New York Gov. George Pataki. Throughout the debate, Sen. Graham argued that America must send U.S. ground forces into Syria. “If you don’t hit them first, they’re going to hit us,” Graham said - noting his concerns of another 9/11 scale terrorist attack. All the candidates blasted President Obama’s strategy on ISIS arguing that the United States needs to take a much larger role in fight against ISIS. Many of them blasted Trump for his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America, saying that the ban only helps ISIS recruitment. Most candidates agreed that Muslims should enjoy religion freedom but noted that radical Islamic sentiments are out there. And the U.S. needs to better vet the people coming into America. When Santorum was asked if he supports religious freedom for Muslims he said, “Of course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn’t have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country.” While they disagreed on the feasibility of vetting candidates, they all agreed that prohibiting officials from looking at the social media pages of those who want to come to America was wrong. This comes after news surfaced from the Department of Homeland Security that alleged shooter, Tashfeen Malik, had posted radical statements online. However, officials missed those posts because they were prohibited from doing so in order to be politically correct. Santorum argued for the collection of phone records, to allow law enforcement to detect if people are communicating with terrorists. He argued that this collection of data would not be recording phone calls, just recording the phone numbers being called. Sen. Graham was notably very emotional, continually arguing that there will be more terrorist attacks if the U.S. does not intensify its fight against ISIS. All of the candidates agreed that there needs to be a modification to U.S. national security measures, such as increasing law enforcement's ability to read encrypted messages between suspected terrorists. Overall, former Gov. Huckabee and former Sen. Santorum had strong debate performances. The last GOP presidential debate of 2015 is tonight! CNN is hosting the first debate at 6pm and the second debate at 8:30 pm. The last time we saw the candidates on the debate stages more than a month ago. Tonight’s debates follow the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino and comes as many Americans are becoming increasing worried about another attack.
Lower-tier debate: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, and former New York Gov. George Pataki. Main debate: Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida), retired neurosureon Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky). Yesterday, a Maryland man was charged with providing material support to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and a former Illinois National Guardsman pleaded guilty to providing material support to ISIS. Today a ‘credible terror threat’ prompted the closure of public schools in Los Angeles. Polls show that terrorism is among one of the most important for likely Republican caucus goers, so national security and combating ISIS will be the focus of the CNN debate tonight. Donald Trump has been polling extremely high in recent national polls - sometimes with twice the support of his closest contender and will at the center podium again. Expect Trump to face questions about his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. Trump faces a possible dilemma now that Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) is in second place and has been winning in recent Iowa polls. On Sunday, Trump said Cruz is “a bit of a maniac,” on “Fox News Sunday.” And on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Trump said he has “far better judgement than Ted.” During the debate, Trump will have to decide whether to continue his attacks or back away. If he backs away he might look weak. Sen. Cruz is widely known for is debating skills, and if Trump attacks Cruz it might not end to well for the real estate mogul. Sen. Cruz has refused to attack any of the candidates on stage for all of the debates. Even as Trump began his attacks against him, he responded with humor and called Trump his friend. Cruz will want to have another strong debate performance to sustain his rise. However, he will probably start taking fire from other candidates now that he has risen in the polls. Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida) accused Cruz of adopting an isolationist policy. Sen. Marco Rubio, who is in third place, has also performed very well in the past debates and will have to try to convince voters that he is a strong conservative candidate, while winning over establishment voters. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson’s poll numbers have plummeted falling the terrorist attacks in Paris as doubts over whether his lack of political experience would prepare him for an international crisis as president. Carson is known for his reserved demeanor during the debates and tonight would be a very good time to try to convince voters that he can handle a crisis. However, given his low-key approach it could be hard to reverse his slide. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has had fairly poor debate performances for almost every debate this year. He has struggled to get more than 5% for most of the election cycle and many have anticipated that he will suspend his campaign soon. The Bush campaign insists that he has become on the campaign trail. Whether that translates to a strong debate performance is yet to be seen. |
Decoder Ring
Sometimes with all the acronyms in government it's hard to know what's going on. This page will "decode" important acronyms to help you stay more informed Archives
February 2016
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