Millions watched Republican Debate

The Times reports that nearly 23 million people tuned into CNN Wednesday to watch the Republican debate, The three hour debate averaged 22.9 million viewers, a record for CNN. However, the debate drew less attention than last month's, which appeared on Fox. Before this year, CNN's highest total viewers for a debate was 8.3 million, which came from the Democratic debate in 2008.

Planned Parenthood part of Republican plans to avoid Government Shutdown

Currently, Congress has two weeks left to decide something before the government will go into yet again an other shutdown. One proposed plan to cut spending proposed by the GOP was to cut federal funding to any Planned Parenthood affiliate and to impose criminal penalties on any healthcare provider who doesn't give treatment to any baby who survives an abortion attempt. The bill is not expected to make it very far in the Senate, but it will ignite outrage against Planned Parenthood after a couple of undercover videos show that the organization is illegally selling fetal tissue to researchers for a profit. According to the Times, this video led to many Republicans in both the House and Senate stating that they would not vote for any funding bill that included money being sent to Planned Parenthood.

Federalism

1. Duhaime's Law Dictionary defines federalism as a system of government which has created, by written agreement, a central and national government to which it has distributed specified legislative (law-making) powers, called the federal government, and regional or local governments (or sometimes called provinces or states) to which is distributed other, specified legislative powers.

2. There are currently about 196 Nation-states in the world today.

3. There are about 25 countries in the world today that use the federal system of government. These countries include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Argentina, Austria, Belgium , Comoros, Malaysia, Micronesia, Nepal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, United States of America, etc...

4. The countries tend to have in common that they are all large countries in terms of size.

5. Unitary, by definition, is a sovereign state governed as a single entity.

6. More than 150 countries use a unitary system of government. The 5 largest unitary countries are China, Khazakstan, Algeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Saudi Arabia.

7. The difference between a unitary and federal system of government is that federal systems have states and large national governments that work together. Unitary systems consist of one large government that controls everything.

8.The Picture of the two guys presents the idea that federalism isn't a good thing, or that it is basically just a way for state government's to receive handouts without having to answer to any real authority.

9. This picture presents a sort of ironic view of the federal government because the federal government is preventing someone from getting something that they need for their illness because it is illegal.

10. This picture shows a Republican (the elephant) claiming that he doesn't believe in government obstruction within business and citizen's lives, but the minute a citizen wants to change something he steps in and says they are wrong.

11. The video compares federalism to a three layered cake. The local government is on top, the state government in the middle, and national government on the bottom.

12.  This cake creates a totally different metaphor for federalism. It creates a sense that all the governments are blended together instead of separated.

Donald Trump Golf Course eases Taxes

The Times Reports that Trump is trying to lessen the taxes he pays on the Trump National Golf Club. In order to do so, a Trump lawyer recently filed paperwork stating the property was only worth $1.36 million, significantly less than previous estimates. The property is currently taxed on a $13.5 million value, and if approved the tax reduction will be nearly 90 percent. Interestingly enough, in July, Trump listed as worth $50 million in his personal financial disclosure with the U.S. government.

"If you work all day, you don't have time to do heroin"

Yes, Kentucky senator Rand Paul actually said that. He also said that Americans shouldn't be given a penny if they don't work and that work needs to be attached to everything. Paul delivered this speech in New Hampshire, which has seen a 90 percent increase in heroin users admitted to state treatment centers from 2004 to 2013. Huffington Post reports that Paul eventually went on to say that heroin addiction had to do with more than just lack of work. Paul actually co-sponsors an organization with the goal to treat addiction as more of a health problem by giving medical assistance to the addicted. 

Ben Carson looking better in Polls

A recently released national poll showed that the brain surgeon was the only candidate who outperforms Donald Trump in head-to-head polls. Republican voters preferred Ben Carson 55% compared to Trump at 36%, the Times reports. Patrick Murray, Directer of the Monmouth University Polling institute stated that “The fact that the only one who can challenge Trump is the only other candidate who has never held or run for elected office speaks volumes to the low regard G.O.P. voters have for the establishment.” The new poll puts Carson in second place, following only Trump who received 30% when matched against the full Republican field.

Trump Pledges to Republican Party

Earlier today, Donald Trump signed a pledge to the Republican Party stating that he would no join a third-party and would support the Republican's eventual nominee. In a very Trumpesque way, he made it a big deal. There were many supporters there, holding up there "Make America Great Again" signs and dozens of reporters and photographers. The Times reports that Trump claims he gets nothing out of signing the pledge, just "assurance." Trump also lashed out at other candidates such as Chris Christie and Jeb Bush, mostly Jeb Bush. He also did a great job avoiding the questions he doesn't want to answer, as he always does.