Comment on peer's blog

I agree with Kristin's blog about torture for information. In every war, information is a weapon. In a war against terrorism, where the adversary wears no uniform and hides among the civilian population, information can matter even more. But does that mean that torture can sometimes be justified to extract information? Most civilised people squirm at the thought of putting suspected terrorists on the rack or pulling off toenails. What if that prisoner knew the whereabouts of a ticking bomb—maybe a biological, chemical or even nuclear one? Wouldn't a little sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation or even water-dunking be justified to save hundreds and perhaps thousands of lives? Whatever the law says, a lot of people seem to think so. With all that being said, I believe that we should torture people for valuable information. It can save countless lives if we do.

Tax Reform

On December 2nd won Senate approval and passed on a 51-49 vote with Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee being the only Republican Senator that voted with the Democrats in opposing the passing of this horrendous bill. The Senate's tax plan will do away with most state and local tax deductions meaning taxpayers in high-tax states would lose a write-off. However this plan will allow for deductions of up to $10,000 in local property taxes which sounds like a good thing but I'm sure the Senate will place some sneaky clause to make you meet numerous requirements in order to probably even be eligible, if that's the case then this tax reduction sounds like it could be very difficult to obtain. Now as for the part of the bill dealing with “Pass-Through Provisions does sound like a good thing. Pass through businesses are essentially any business that isn't a corporation and this bill would allow for this deduction to be easier obtained by pass-through businesses thus creating more savings for more pass-through businesses. Individual Mandate is the Obamacare requirement for Americans to have healthcare. This bill will repeal the individual mandate which could reduce government deficits close to $388 billion but on the other hand it would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 13 million at the same time, which sounds like a zero sum game to me because yeah it's nice that we are reducing government deficits but on the other hand millions of Americans will be without healthcare. There are multiple other issues that this bill is going to cover including Child tax credit, Standard deduction, Mortgage deduction, Alternative minimum tax, Estate tax, Medical expense deductions, and most importantly the tax brackets. Now as for the Tax brackets the Senate and House both have different plans. The Senate plan keeps the current seven tax brackets but it does change the rates to 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35, and 38.5 percent respectively.  All the while, on the other hand, the House’s version cuts the brackets down from seven brackets down to four, with the rates being 12, 25, 35, and 39.6 percent. If the Houses version is adapted to the current tax reform this will be bad news for the middle class in general which I feel includes a good amount of students either enrolled at NCTC or their parents will be affected heavily by this bill.

Commentary on Peer's Blog

I agree 100% with Mai-Angel Thai's opinion on abortion I think many good points were brought up.

A woman should have the right to make decisions about her own body. We’re in 2018, and people are still debating about whether or not a woman should be allowed to make the choice to have an abortion. Why is a man telling a women what she can and can’t do with her body? What does he know about being pregnant? Why is someone with no uterus trying to take control of  a women with a uterus? Regardless of whether or not you view abortion as a crime, you have to admit, ladies, that having a man try to tell you what you can and can’t do is the worst. A pregnancy is a huge responsibility; one that not everybody can - or should - take on. A child has basic needs - food, shelter, water, and health care. On top of these things, a child also needs attention, love, and support. Some people are barely able to take care of themselves, let alone a child. Kids are adorable, and teach us many things about life. They are also the reason that many adults are forced to let go of their prior goals and dreams.

Gun Control

Gun Control has grown in popularity after the recent events at schools. But it is more than that, more than what is in the constitution or what is written in any law, gun ownership is about self-ownership. If you cant defend yourself against someone who is trying to cause harm to you, you don't care for yourself. If you don't care about yourself, you can't possibly care about anything else be it your loved ones or your property. A government telling you that you can't defend yourself against a criminal, murderer or any kind of armed threat is telling you that you don't even own yourself. Any government with that much power has total control over its people. At that point, the people are nothing more than a resource to be used. Guns don't load themselves and shoot people. Banning all guns won't stop violent crime. Bad people will still have guns. Let us find something that everyone can agree on let's not strip our second amendment right. That's not fair to any law-abiding citizen that owns a firearm. So why can't we meet in the middle for something both sides think will be beneficial?

Racial Quotas Kill Kids

In Ann Coulter's blog about racial quotas, she argues that Obama's administration is the reason kids die in schools from violence. She goes on to explain about the shooting in Florida and how the government ignored every warning they received about the kid who murdered 17 people with a firearm. She explains how Democrats want this racial quota filled in schools. Explaining how more students who aren't white get disciplined differently than white children. This just is not true. I have been to school and the way you are disciplined is not determined by your skin color. I just find that ridiculous. She then explains how liberals only want you to hear the worst of any criminal activity because it is not to mourn for the people lost it is to get some kind of political agenda across. I believe this to be true. If I was to ask someone who believes in strong gun control what an AR-15 was they couldn't tell me. They don't care to learn about the issue in depth, they just push this political agenda on you. The same is for the school issue. They believe that school districts treat you differently due to skin color. It is absurd to think like this. I just believe that Coulter made a good point in her blog, and recommend reading it.

Caring for children - And the right to bear arms

In the blog post about gun control, and the conservative side not caring about children; Ruby Henley gives facts about how the liberals care about abortion, but this contradicts what they say in their new march "saving our children." How can you support killing a child that has no say in whether it dies or not but you preach that we need to ban guns to protect our children? It honestly makes no sense to me. Blaming guns is not the solution in all of this. How can we protect ourselves from home invasions or muggings? If a crazy person gets his hands on a gun and commits a crime with a said gun we automatically blame guns. Guns do not load themselves and kill people. The solution is not to ban guns but make it more difficult. Let us stop blaming the guns for violence and start looking at the people behind those guns instead.

An increase in gasoline tax?

The Dallas Morning News posted an article on their website talking about the federal gasoline tax getting a raise. It simply goes over how the government is looking into raising the heavy tax of 18.4 cents a gallon to even more. Texas senators and local representatives are not so happy about this new idea. It goes on to explain how this proposition has been getting some interest in the Senate lately, and how this is only to help gain those simple easy transportation tax. It really is a good article and you should look into it. It is definitely worth the read since most of us rely on our vehicles to get us places.