Just a Bill

This week, I could talk about how I was wrong when I tried to predict who Trump would pick for his Vice President, but believe me, the shame of my political prediction failures is enough. I could give you a summary of Governor Mike Pence, but just check out #PeriodsForPence and the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and you'll get the idea.

Instead, this week, I thought I would talk about something simpler. I'm in the process of switching jobs, and presenting at a conference this week, so this week is as good as any to talk about how a bill becomes a law!

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In Their Defense

Remember when this blog was just about complicated Congressional bills instead of my opinions about the election and sexism? After trying (and mostly failing) to write about polls and why they're flawed, I decided to tackle a far easier subject and discuss the most recent defense bill that just passed the House, but will probably be vetoed.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 allocates money to the Department of Defense, which in turn, funds the military. I'll spare you an exhaustive account of everything that's in the bill, because the bill is hundreds of pages long, and I don't have time to read it all. The bill appropriates 23 billion dollars in funding, to allow current military campaigns to continue through April of 2017, at which point, the new president will have to request supplemental funding.

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AP Wizardry

Back in February, I settled in to watch the New Hampshire primary, thinking it would be a long evening of political pundit cross talk while I waited for the results to come in. Imagine my surprise when, at 8:01, every news station called the race. I know we are living in a technological golden age, where all the information we could ever want is at our fingertips, but it was shocking to me that with 3% of precincts reporting, the news could declare who won a race.

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Battle of the Liberals

In most interactions, I am "The Liberal." I take a progressive stance on 97% of all issues, so it's very unsettling to me when I find that I am the most conservative person in a conversation. Since Senator Sanders (D-VT) has been rising in the polls though, I've been in that position often. I've experienced an interesting turn around from being not excited about Hillary Clinton just a year ago, to adamantly defending her against people who say that Senator Sanders might be a better choice.

I'm not going to delve into the debate about the value of a tough primary challenge, or talk about how Hillary Clinton and her many years of experience dealing with foreign affairs make her the wiser choice for the commander in chief. But I want to clear up the idea that Senator Sanders is the only choice for progressives, because Hillary Clinton is a moderate wolf in Democrat clothing.

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