How long a sentence should a murder get in prison?

In the UK life sentences rarely actually mean life, whilst in the USA this is fairly common. Currently in the UK only about 50 people are subject to a whole-life sentence, most recently Dale Cregan for murdering 4 people. In the USA, however, approximately 40,000 people are imprisoned without much hope of release. Furthermore, this figure does not include those American prisoners who have been given extremely long fixed term sentences. For example, one Alabama man was sentenced to 200 years for kidnapping and armed robbery.

What is Prism?

It is a secret government organisation run by the National Security Agency (NSA). They had access to data held by major internet companies, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo and Skype.

What data can it obtain?

Detailed information about online activity, crucially including the contents of emails and live chat. The documents revealed Ed Snowden suggested they had access to chat logs, stored data, voice traffic, file transfers and social networking data of individuals. The government also confirmed they had asked for millions of phone records.

When was it set up?

It is believed to have been set up in 2007 under the US surveillance laws passed by George W. Bush and renewed by Obama in 2012.

How has it emerged?

Through a secret NSA presentation to staff which talks of “collection directly from the servers” of internet providers.

For our American readers, a lot of this, if not all of this, will probably be something you have known since your childhood. But, I feel that it is necessary that we write a blog on the fascinating constitution: how it was formed, what it involved and how different people view it!

How and why was the Constitution formed?

In 1776, thirteen colonies declared their independence from Great Britain by signing the Declaration of Independence, making them ‘free and independent’ states. Consequently, this lead to the War of Independence between the former colonies and Britain from 1776-1783. The colonies had to pay tax to Britain, even though they had no representation in the British Parliament, so wanted to form their own system of government. In 1781, the newly independent colonies established a confederacy through the Articles of Confederation – a confederal government has a lot of power given to the states but little to the national government. However, this confederacy almost turned their victory in gaining independence into a defeat because it proved to be a disaster as their was little power for the national government, thus they failed to make a nation. In 1787, a group of people (now collectively known as the Founding Fathers) agreed to meet up at the Philadelphia convention to amend the Articles of Confederation. In the end, they scrapped the Articles of Confederation and created a new constitution with a number of compromises as to the allocation of powers.

President Barack Obama is proposing a $3.77 trillion U.S. government budget for 2014 that would change taxes for the wealthy and adjust how Social Security benefits are calculated, a plan that fails to satisfy members of both parties.The proposal intends to reduce the deficit by nearly $2 trillion during the next decade, through a combination of new revenues and budget cuts.  It includes a minimum 30 percent tax on people making $1 million or more a year. Obama is pushing for a compromise between Republicans who refuse to raise taxes and Democrats who are seeking to protect popular programs that provide pensions and health care to the elderly and poor.

The president says his proposed budget is not his ideal plan to cut the deficit, but an effort at compromise to end what he says has been a cycle of short-term, crisis-driven decision-making. Competing budget plans have already been passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled Senate, setting the stage for tough negotiations.


Republicans are opposed to raising more government revenue, after a deal with Democrats earlier this year that increased income-tax rates on wealthy Americans.  And lawmakers in the president’s Democratic Party are angry over his suggestion to switch to a modified formula to measure inflation, which will lower annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients.


President Obama’s Proposed 2014 Budget Overview:

• Includes $1.8 trillion of additional budget deficit reduction over 10 years
• Closes tax loopholes and reduces tax benefits for the wealthiest
• Includes $400 billion in health savings
• Includes $1 billion investment to launch manufacturing innovation institutes
• Provides $50 billion for infrastructure investment

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Gun policy has been a very contentious issue in recent years, especially in the light of the incidents at Sandy Hook and Aurora. As a result Obama has made some key proposals:

• Reintroduce an expired ban on “military-style” assault weapons
• Limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds
• Background checks on all gun sales
• Ban on possession and sale of armour-piercing bullets
• Harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals
• Approve the appointment of the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

The Economy 

The last few years have proved to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Although unemployment has fallen, it has been minimal with latest figures showing it stands at 7.9%. Economic growth remains just as bad at 2% meaning that people are not spending and jobs are not available. The economy of the USA is very fragile and would not take much for the economy to crash again into another recession. Issues that could cause this include the debt crisis in Europe which has severely impacted the free flow of global trade. Other issues include gridlock in Congress and the fiscal cliff. Although there has been slight recent improvements in the economy, there is still a long way to go.

The Fiscal Cliff And The Budget Deficit 

The Fiscal Cliff was a series of tax increases and spending cuts that would effect virtually every American and could potential cripple the already weak economy. The idea was that the Democrats and Republicans would act to prevent cuts to defence and social programmes dear to either side, as well as the expiration of a temporary payroll tax cut and the low tax rates dating back to the George W Bush presidency. The proposals are so drastic that they could throw the economy into a deep recession.

Next month, on February 24th 2013, Italy will hold a general election to establish who is to become members of the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the two houses of the Italian parliament.

Previous president of Italy,  Silvio Berlusconi, resigned after the problems with the European sovereign debt Crisis as well as facing charges of a sex allegation with a prostitute who was underage. However, in December 2012, Berlusconi announced he was standing for president again for The People of Freedom Party. Soon after he announced this, The People of Freedom Party withdrew their support for government resulting in Mario Monti’s resignation as president of Italy – stating that he could not govern with a loss of support for his platform.

As Joe Biden (the Vice President) put it earlier this week they are ‘the centre of [the USA's] future’. He said this in the lime-light of the White House’s push for major reforms of the US immigration system

Hispanics currently make up 10% of America’s population which means that they have significant influence in elections. Furthermore, the number of Hispanics in Congress reached a record 36 meaning that they are section of society which simply can no longer be ignored.

The Hispanic population overwhelmingly support the Democrat with President Barack Obama winning 71 per cent of the Hispanic vote in November, compared to only 27 per cent for Mitt Romney. The vice president said the stark election results meant politicians now understood the “awesome potential” of the Hispanic community and realised that it “must be courted”. However, the Hispanics have also infiltrated the Republican party with well known senators, such as Marco Rubio (Florida), being one. Rubio embraces immigration reform highlighting that the Republicans growing call to address and connect with the Hispanic community.

Obama has unveiled his gun policy proposals despite a lot of opposition from those on the right of the political spectrum. The proposals were released on Wednesday after receiving urgent cries for changes to the constitution and laws surrounding gun control. Obama announced that “we have an obligation to try” to reduce violence and called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and wider background checks on gun buyers.The National Rifle Association (NRA), a very powerful US gun lobby group, declared their rejection of Obama’s proposals,  saying that “attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation”.