Students in Public Policy Breaking Barriers

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March 2018 Students in Public Policy Breaking Barriers Issue 2 MADELEINE MEIER This past summer, I was fortunate enough to meet and befriend a young woman from Palestine during an international

1 March 2018 Students in Public Policy Breaking Barriers Issue 2 MADELEINE MEIER This past summer, I was fortunate enough to meet and befriend a young woman from Palestine during an international program of which I was a part. She frequently spoke of the turmoil in her country and told stories of close friends that had been uplifted from their homeland. She also told the Americans of the typical stereotypes of us that exist in Palestine. We all laughed about it- it was good hearted. However, after the program, I reflected on these conversations and truly recognized the need to help Palestinian refugees stricken by the plague of violence in their country. I also thought about typical stereotypes of Palestinians that exist in America. These were not so funny. I realized that a mutual understanding between our cultures must be found. Palestinian or American, we, as youth, are the future of the progression of social justice in our world. It was interesting to hear how others characterize Americans. It was not very flattering, to say the least. But the stereotypes of Palestinians, of Muslims, that exist in our American society are far worse than the silly stereotypes of Americans in Palestinian society. It is imperative that young Americans, like many of the students at our school, begin to resolve these differences and begin to break down inaccurate stereotypes. At the end of the day, we are all humans regardless of our race or religion. As teenagers, Americans and Palestinians share many interests. To highlight these similarities, included in the next page are copies of the same questionnaire filled out by three American students and three Palestinian students. INSIDE THIS ISSUE TRUMPS YEAR IN REVIEW Health Care-Andrew Finnerty Tax Reform-Olivia Murray FBI Investigations-Chloe Stemerman Declaration of Jerusalem As The Capital of Israel Rocco Scarselletta DACA Mary Zwirko Trump on Abortion DBT

2 PALESTINIAN AND AMERICAN STUDENT SURVEY 2 What is your ideal Saturday? American Student 1;Dance, my favorite activity, and spending time with friends. American Student 2:Watch sports and then go and hang out with friends Palestine Student 1;Hanging out with friends and enjoying nature Palestine Student 2: After finishing school I d probably go to a café with my friends. After that I d go home and stay in until about 9:00 PM then go out with my friends again until 11:30 PM Favorite social media app? American Student 1;Snapchat American Student 2:Instagram Palestine Student 1; Instagram Palestine Student; Snapchat What are your plans after high school? American Student1 1Go to college and possibly graduate school after that American Student 2:To attend college and then graduate school Palestine Student 1;To hopefully get accepted at a university in London, work abroad for a few years and travel. Then, I d come back to Palestine to live. Palestine Student 2:Go to college in Europe then come home to Palestine What is one thing in your community that you would like to change? American Student 1;The amount of poverty and crime American Student 2:The poverty levels Elmira s youth is at about a 50% poverty rate Palestine Student 1;How judgmental everyone is and how religion is no longer a belief. Religion is now only putting a scarf around a girl s hair and not practicing the true morals of religion. Religion has become a cape that people disguise themselves behind and do everything in secret scared of others, while they judge others who do what they please in public. Palestine Student 2: How people view/ treat certain minorities in my community What are your top 3 favorite songs at the moment? American Student 1;Winter, Thunder American Student 2:Bad and Boujee, Butterfly Effect, Good Life Palestine Student 1;Butterfly Effect, Feel It, Kalimat Palestine Student 2: Silence, Whatever It Takes, Reine What is your favorite thing to do with your friends? American Student 1;Drive in the car and travel to local places American Student 2:Watch movies and listen to music together Palestine Student 1;Going on car rides and listening to music Palestine Student 2:Go on drives in the country together For American students: What are some typical stereotypes regarding Palestinians/Middle Easterners? American Student 1Radicalists, Americahating, terrorists American Student 2:Radicalists, terrorists, crazy people

PALESTINIAN AND AMERICAN STUDENT SURVEY (CONT.) Do you think these stereotypes are fair/accurate? If not, how do you personally feel about Palestinians/Middle Easterners?

3 PALESTINIAN AND AMERICAN STUDENT SURVEY (CONT.) Do you think these stereotypes are fair/accurate? If not, how do you personally feel about Palestinians/Middle Easterners? American Student 1: No, I don t believe it is fair to generalize a whole culture by the actions of few. American Student 2:No, I feel that because most Americans don t have direct contact with Palestinians/Middle Easterners, we automatically assume incorrect things about them For Palestinian Students: What are some typical stereotypes regarding Americans? Palestine Student 1;A stereotype is that Americans are very self-centered and view themselves as superior and the most civilized. Palestine Student 2:To be honest I do not think that these stereotypes are accurate; because I have spoken to a few Americans and they did not have perfect lives. As for the open minded part, it was actually true and their parents allow them to do nearly everything they want. The thing is that I cannot base whether the stereotype is right or not because I have only ever met a few Americans that do not represent Americans as a whole. Personally I have no harsh feelings regarding Americans or people from other countries, I like them all. But, there are a few groups in each country that destroy how others may perceive or think about that country. Therefore, the racist groups in America only represent themselves not a community as a whole, but sadly people do not think like that, and with a president like Donald Trump it is hard not to imagine Americans as racists in general! Do you think these stereotypes are fair/accurate? If not, how do you personally feel about Palestinians/Middle Easterners? Palestine student 1I believe that this is partially correct from the few Americans I have encountered. Although I cannot say that this is 100% accurate but many Americans think that they and America are the best. While, in fact Americans are not the most civilized due to the fact that they are the occupiers of the Red- Indians land just like Israel is the illegal occupier of Palestine. I personally do not like Americans that are racist and pro-israel. Palestine student 2; To be honest I do not think that these stereotypes are accurate; because I have spoken to a few Americans and they did not have perfect lives. As for the open minded part, it was actually true and their parents allow them to do nearly everything they want. The thing is that I cannot base whether the stereotype is right or not because I have only ever met a few Americans that do not represent Americans as a whole. Personally I have no harsh feelings regarding Americans or people from other countries, I like them all. But, there are a few groups in each country that destroy how others may perceive or think about that country. Therefore, the racist groups in America only represent themselves not a community as a whole, but sadly people do not think like that, and with a president like Donald Trump it is hard not to imagine Americans as racists in general! 3

4 President Donald Trump: A Year in Review Here s a look at some of the major events that occurred during President Trump s first year in office. Positive or negative, these events contributed to the shaping of the 2017 political scene. TRUMP S HEALTH CARE EFFORTS Andrew Finnerty Other than Make America Great Again!, and Build the Wall!, one of Donald Trump s greatest catchphrases over the course of his quest to be President was Repeal and Replace Obamacare. The Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), was signed into law by then President Barack Obama on March 23, The big problem that many had with the ACA was that companies would end up paying for employee health care at the cost of laying off other employees and cutting into their workforce. For several years, Republicans have tried time and time again to repeal Obamacare, but to no avail. The same can be said about the current administration. While Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear that he wants to repeal and replace, he has not made it clear what he wants to really replace it with. It seems that many Republicans want to do away with the ACA simply because it was introduced and created under President Obama. With the current administration s inability to repeal Obamacare, Trump has shifted away from focusing on Health Care, to focusing on immigration reform and cutting a deal that will involve both DACA and the funding for the border wall. It will be interesting to see if Democrats and Republicans can come together and finally work towards passing some new legislation and fixing some issues facing the country. TRUMP ON TAX REFORM Olivia Murray Recently, President Trump s Tax Reform Bill has dominated the news. With varying amounts of support, it is a much debated and discussed topic. Overall, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts is the largest one-time reduction in corporate tax rate in the history of the US, reducing to 21 percent compared to the previous 35 percent. Also, the bill benefits the vast majority of Americans, as well as small-business owners, by lowering taxes. Changes to the GOP s plan last minute preserved certain tax savings for the middle class including the student loan interest deduction, the deduction for excessive medical expenses and the tax break for graduate students, expansion of the child tax credit even further to benefit working-class families, along with a larger tax break for the wealthy. The passage of this piece of legislation was a huge victory for Trump, as it appeals to his Republican base.

Hillary Clinton quotes I was on the way to winning until a combination of James Comey s letter and Russian Wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of people.

5 FBI SCANDALS CHLOE STEMERMAN On Tuesday May 9, 2017 President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. He was appointed FBI director in 2013 by former president Barack Obama and led an investigation on whether members of the Trump Presidential Campaign colluded with Russians to hack the 2016 election. Hillary Clinton quotes I was on the way to winning until a combination of James Comey s letter and Russian Wikileaks raised doubts in the minds of people. In a signed letter by the White House, Comey was informed that he was hereby terminated from office. Recently Comey has came under fire again for handling the investigation of Clinton s s. DECLARATION OF JERUSALEM AS THE CAPI- TAL OF ISRAEL ROCCO SCARSELLETTA It was just over two months ago now that president Donald Trump decided to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Along with this highly controversial decision to move the capital, president Trump also has plans to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. Trump s decision flies in the face of most other countries foreign policy, being that no country has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel since its founding in The president s decision is expected to spark controversy in neighboring middle eastern countries, as the territories surrounding Jerusalem have been disputed for nearly a millennium. 5

6 President Trump s Approval Ratings Polls Conducted by Daniel Betancourt-Trompa These charts are based on surveys taken by students at Ithaca College and Cornell University. Participants were asked to rate their approval,on a scale of 1-10, for various decisions/actions taken by Trump.

7 Trump on Abortion Daniel Betancourt- Trompa On Friday, January , Donald Trump became the first president of the United States to formally address pro-life marchers in Washington DC. In his speech, Trump referenced the Declaration of Independence s statement that everyone has the inalienable right to life. This speech was given based off of Trump s pro-life mentality and also as an appeal to his conservative base. Although no substantial legislation has been passed concerning this issue under the Trump Administration, the prolife vs. pro-choice debate remains a controversial topic. DACA Mary Zwirko In the past few months, the Trump administration has focused on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that was introduced in 2012 under President Barack Obama. The program is meant to protect those children born to immigrants of the US from deportation. The policy provides children with benefits, including permission to remain in the country and receive work permits. Work permits allow recipients to drive legally and obtain a higher education. These DACA recipients are known as Dreamers. In the fall of 2017, President Trump announced that he will end the program and focus on the deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants. With the end of the program, many wonder what will happen to the Dreamers? Those in the program will experience the elimination and expiration of acquired permits. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have yet to come to a decision as to how this issue should be handled, but we should have an answer to this debate within the next few weeks. Staff Madeleine Meier Catherine Craig Andrew Finnerty Chloe Stemerman Rocco Scarselletta Mary Zwirko Jake Baker Olivia Murray Peyton Maloney Emma Westcott John Hunter Booth Zaineb Saeed Daniel Betancourt-Trompa

America s Voice/LD 2016 National and Battleground State Poll (Field Dates August 19-30)

America s Voice/LD 2016 National and Battleground State Poll (Field Dates August 19-30) 1. In November, there will be an election for President, U.S. Congress and other state and local offices. What would you say the chances are that you will vote in November are you absolutely certain you