Wednesday, December 12, 2018

1. What event has caused Trump to make changes to his staff and advisers? " Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives, Trump concluded that now was the time for a shake-up he’s long wanted."

2. How did CNN describe the relationship between the president and the Chief of Staff this week? They reported that the two are no longer talking.
3. Who was Trump's original Chief of Staff and what job did he come from before that?  Reince Priebus, the former RNC chair was his job before Chief of Staff.
4. Why did Trump pick Kelly (the military general) to become his new Chief of Staff? "Priebus was “weak,” and that replacing him with a tough guy general would be good."

5. In what ways did Kelly influence policymaking while he was Chief of Staff? by " installing a more rigorous process and structure to the infamously chaotic White House.

Friday, December 7, 2018

Gerrymandering in North Carolina

1. Look at the map.  By what margins did Democrats win in the 3 districts that they won? They won by 20+.


2. Look at the map.  By what margins did Republicans win in the 9 districts that they won? It ranges from +5 to +20.


3. What percent of the votes for Representatives did Republicans and Democrats earn statewide? Republicans go 50% and Democrats got 48% of the votes.


4. What have federal courts said about the district lines in North Carolina? They said the lines were gerrymandered and considered unconstitutional.


5. What did Democrats fail to do in both North Carolina and Ohio? "Democrats failed to pick up a single House seat despite winning close to half of the popular vote."


6. Why did Pennsylvania have new districts for this election? What was the result of the House elections in Pennsylvania this year? A new nonpartisan map was court ordered; 45% Republicans and 55% Democrats were the House results for Congress.

7. How does the article describe the residential patterns of Republicans and Democrats? "Democrats tend to be concentrated in urban areas, while Republicans are distributed more efficiently across suburban and rural terrain."


8. After the district lines were rejected because they were based on race, what justification was used for the new district lines? They were redrawn largely based on party.

9. How do the district lines counter the large number of Democratic votes in cities like Greensboro, Winston Salem, and Fayetteville?"Of the 57 counties where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans, only 17 have a Democratic representative in Congress."


10. What other laws has North Carolina passed that disenfranchised voters in the state?A voter identification law "tried to revoke thousands of voter registrations before the 2016 election, only to be blocked by a judge who called the process “insane.”"