Its not the end of the world yet. Trump might have a chance with his policies.

Are we still trying to stop global warming? During President elect Trumps campaign he claimed that climate change is a hoax and that he is committed to end the Clean Power Plan at the center of Emission Reduction system. He also promised a new beginning for the fossil fuel industry. Yes, the idea of international diplomacy will become more difficult as China and India process their energy policies as there is a possibility that the US will walk away from their commitments. Its very likely that the Trump Administration will dismiss the Clean Power Plan and the renege on the paris record. The least we can do is keep the nations nuclear plants online, continue tax incentives for wind and solar energy, and stays out of the way of the shale energy revolution. Trump wants to bring back coal jobs, but he might have to go in a different direction due to his on promoting natural gas and committing to energy independence. President Obamas cap and trade bill limited emissions that were higher than what they were told to be. The demise of The Clean Power Plan will not make that much of a difference. The transition from coal to gas will happen anyway. A study commissioned last December by the Environmental Defense Fund concluded that most states could comply “by relying exclusively on existing generation, investments already planned within each state and implementation of respective existing state policies.” Climate objectives could blend with Trumps goal of energy independence. The United States could pretty much become energy independent by 2040 — reducing its annual oil imports to 1 million barrels a day from 6 million in 2014 — as long as Washington sticks to current policies. The Trump administration only has to maintain the Obama administration’s CAFE standards, which require the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks. A recent analysis by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology concluded that the promises made in Paris would reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at the end of the century to 710 parts per million from 750. For this to work, the United States, as the dominant economic player, must play ball. The clock is ticking, but we still have some time.

1. Do you believe that Trumps policies will work for a better America?
2. Do you believe Climate Change should be addressed seriously?
3. How do you think Trump will affect this issue in four years?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/business/economy/trumps-climate-policies-may-work-out-in-the-planets-favor.html?smid=pl-share&_r=1

Vote Recount Push Advances, but Reversing Trump’s Win Is Unlikely

Jill Stein, Presidential candidate for the Green party is raising money for the votes to be recounted in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania because she believes that the votes possibly could have been hacked or interfered with. Stein is demanding that the votes be counted by hand, but the elections commission rejected it and Stein said she would sue. Stein stated, “We would not want to be collaborating with the Clinton campaign on this.” However, Clinton will have her lawyers present at the recount, but will not be contributing any money towards it. 7 million dollars are needed to be raised for the recount to happen and 6.3 million has already been raised. Wisconsin needs to receive 3.5 million dollars for the recount and if they do, it will begin on Wednesday, finished on Dec 12th, certified on Dec 13th, and the Electoral College votes on Dec 19th.

In response to this, Mr. Trump’s spokesman, Jason Miller, said in an email that the “mere talk of a recount by someone who got less than 1%” — Ms. Stein — “is a joke.” Trump is calling this scam by the Green party, and is also accusing states such as California, Virginia and New Hampshire for voter fraud.

Article link

Do you think it is possible for this recount to reverse Trump’s win?

Do you support the vote recount?

Should Clinton help fund the vote recount?

Donald Trump Doesn't Know His First Amendment Rights

Article Link

Following president-elect, Donald Trump's tweet stating that he feels that people who burn the American flag should be severely punished or even have their citizenship revoked, people are becoming concerned with whether or not they believe that he will protect and preserve the rights set forth in the Constitution once he is inaugurated in January.
His tweet saying that he feels that those people should be punished not only shows that he does not know his First Amendment rights that protect his freedom of speech, but he also neglects many of the bizarre things he says against minorities, women, and other americans.
The Supreme Court has ruled that flag burners are constitutionally protected by the first amendment. On top of that, Supreme court has also made known that it is impossible to strip someone of their citizenship.
Some find his tweets to be meaningless. However, people must not neglect the fact that social media allows him to spread his thoughts and opinions to millions of people all over the world and that he will become one of the most powerful people in the country in January once he is inaugurated.

Discussion Questions:
- What do you think this tweet shows about Trump and how prepared or ready he is to become president?
- Do you think that Trump says bizarre things he may not really mean to gather more attention?
- Do you think that the people of our country should be concerned with the fact that he may not be familiar with all of the rights set forth in the Constitution?

Obamacare is probably toast - and a lot of poor, white Trump voters will get hurt by it

Donald Trump has nominated Tom Price, a GOP representative and an Affordable Care Act critic, as his secretary for Heath and Human Services. Unlike many Republicans, Price at least has given a lot of thought to how to replace the Affordable Care Act. But Price's own plan would roll back the Medicaid expansion, a substantial amount of financial assistance for others getting coverage, and a fair part of regulation of the individual market. And therefore, most likely, a lot of the 20 million people who would lose coverage due to repeal will still be without coverage, and there will no longer be protections for those with bad medical conditions.

Essentially, conservatives want way less government spending and regulations designed to help poor and sick people, protect consumers, and enforce a minimal standard for coverage. So, they're willing to tolerate way lower standards in those areas, although some want conservative reforms to try to make very cheap coverage widely available. On the other hand, liberals think we should spend and regulate to point where the nation can move toward universal care and see expanded and improved coverage as part of a bigger effort to progress towards a higher minimum standard of living. Obviously, conservatives won the election, and they get to control the country. For better or for worse.

According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index that demonstrates that a lot of poor and middle-class whites (who voted for Trump in disproportionate numbers) have benefited from Obamacare, meaning they're probably going to suffer from its repeal (and even its replacement with something that covers far fewer people).  The Index statistics from earlier this fall conveyed that generally, the national uninsured rate has plummeted to a new low of 10%, a drop of over six percentage points since the law went into effect, which alone is a huge achievement.But this drop is even more pronounced among whites. Gallup-Healthways says that among whites without a college degree who have household incomes of under $36,000, the uninsured rate has dropped from 25% in 2013 to 15% now (a drop of 10 percentage points). It's often noted that the law has disproportionately expanded coverage among African-Americans and Latinos, which is true, but it has also done so among poor whites.

It seems more likely that we'll see a substantial rollback of the progress toward universal health care we've seen in the past few years. News companies love to go to "Trump's America" to hear voters explain that Trump spoke more directly to their economic struggles than Democrats did. Maybe now we'll get more news coverage of those citizens of "Trump's America" who are set to lose their health care, too.
 http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Obamacare-is-probably-toast-and-a-lot-of-poor-10642359.php

1. Do you agree with Trump's nomination of Tom Price as his secretary of Health and Human Services? Do you agree with Price's view on healthcare?
2. Are you more conservative or liberal when it comes to healthcare?
3. How do you think other countries view America now that Trump is our president-elect?

Trump falsely claims 'millions of people who voted illegally' cost him popular vote

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/27/politics/donald-trump-voter-fraud-popular-vote/index.html


Donald Trump claims that millions of people who voted illegally cost him popular vote, only because in Virginia, New Hampshire, and California Trump has said that it was, "serious voter fraud". In Wisconsin, Trump made the Green Party recount the popular vote and this has never been caused before until now. Just because of this one thing that he said he is making everyone second guess the electoral democracy as working probably and not being misuse. Donald has tweeted saying that, "...I won popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally" but yet again there is no real hard core evidence that states illegal voting. He could've gotten the idea of that by seeing stories on conspiracy websites. The Clinton campaign and White house checked and did not find anything wrong but they are still going to guarantee that the recounts are "fair to all sides". In 2012, Donald Trump tweeted, "the electoral college is a disaster for democracy" and four years later on November 15, 2016 he tweeted again saying, "the electoral college is actually genius and that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!" he tweeted that one week after the election day. It is really unexpected accusation for a president elect to make.


Discussion questions:
Why did Trump change his mind about the Electoral college? How is it genius all of a sudden?
Why Does he care about the Popular vote if he already won ?
How could he say 'millions of people who voted illegally' cost him popular vote if he doesn't have evidence to back it up?

Donald Trump’s bogus claim that millions of people voted illegally for Hillary Clinton

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/11/27/trumps-bogus-claim-that-millions-of-people-voted-illegally-for-hillary-clinton/

Soon-to be president Donald Trump said on Twitter that millions of people have voted for Hillary Clinton illegally. Clinton had won the popular vote by 2.2 million votes, which Trump claims to be BS and that he should have won the popular vote as well as the electoral college, which really matters in the election. Although many controversial rumors have been spreading to claim this true, there has been no direct evidence to support this. Conservative fraud specialist Gregg Phillips tweeting out that the election had been rigged and that the number of votes by non-citizen voters exceeded 3 million, as well as claiming other false statements such as Obamacare was "the biggest voter registration fraud scheme in the history of the world" because of the fact that it provided opportunities for voter registration.

What do you think about Trump's claim on that the election was "rigged"?
Why do you think that Trump would make a false statement like this?
How do these actions affect your outlook on Trump as a future president ?

Trump Picks Nikki Haley and Betsy DeVos As First Women For Cabinet

Article Link

Regarding Trump's selections for his cabinet consisted of white, male individuals. However, Donald Trump has introduced the first two women in his administration. Trump selected South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as the US's envoy to the United Nations and Betsy DeVos as the education secretary. Both women were former critics of Trump, naming him an "interloper," and Haley admitted she was "not a fan." Although Haley has been viewed as an influential political figure, many of her stances were not known at the time. Upon further research, she was described to be a "political heavyweight," and this assured diplomats that Trump is taking the UN seriously with his choice of ambassador. There is a relief among diplomats since Trump did not elect someone who would be perceived to be a person to downgrade the job of UN ambassador. Trump highly speaks of Haley, referring to her as "a proven deal maker... [and] a great leader representing us on the world stage." Haley is a woman representing a minority who supported Marco Rubio during the primaries and then Ted Cruz, and she attacked Trump's proposal to ban Muslim immigrants. Trump had called her views on immigration "weak" and an "embarrassment." Trump's election of DeVos was also believed to bring in a strong leader in education, despite the fact she supported Trump's rivals.

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think Trump's election of women, one being a minority, is representative of change in his previously outspoken remarks?

2. Why do you think Trump elected people who have previously disagreed with his political views, and how will this affect his public image?

3. Why do you think Haley and DeVos agreed to join the cabinet despite somewhat conflicting views, and how do you think they will influence the nation?