Blog Post 6: The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is one of 3 branches of the United States Government there is the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and there is the Judicial Branch. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the Judicial Branch. The Supreme Court is the highest court in all of the United States, but it hasn't always been this way. For a period of time the Supreme Court didn't have the power to review if a law the government had made was constitutional or not that came in 1803 during the case of Marbury v. Madison the court ruled that it had the power of judicial review. This gave them the right to review any act of the government determine if they are constitutional or not.

It wasn't always a great honor to be on the Supreme Court at times many judges dreaded it and wanted nothing to do with the court. But as time went on and the court grew in power and what it was able to rule on it became a very high honor and is now a very coveted position to have. When it comes to proceedings the Supreme Court you would think would have everything held in private, but in actuality everything is publicly done. This is because it is part of the government. When it comes time to make a decision the judges either write a opinion in support this is done by the most senior member of the court that has taken this view, or they write a opinion against this decision. This process usually takes about 1 month to complete. The Supreme Court is the most powerful court in all of the United States and will be far into the future too.

Blog Post 5: The Effect of Social Media on Our Lives

Social media has a large effect on our lives. Wether we like it or not in todays day and age perception is everything, and that starts with our social media. For example if you are looking for a job you have a LinkedIn profile and that is a form of social media. Or if you use facebook to connect with old friends thats a form of social media. Social media has an effect on our lives all the time.

We use social media in many ways for example we use social media to update people on what we are doing in our life. The down side to this is its hurting our social skills. It also creates superficial relationships or relationships that are only online. Another way social media has an effect on our lives is companies use it to advertise there products. As much as we try to balance our daily lives and personal interaction compared to our social media usage everyone uses social media and it will constantly have an effect on our lives. I also read an interesting article that explains in more depth about how social media effects our lives.

http://sciencenordic.com/how-does-social-media-affect-your-well-being

Blog Post 4: Combating Fake News

          What is fake news? Nowadays that seems to be on everyones mind. Especially in the age that we are in along with the political atmosphere it has been brought into the spotlight. So what exactly is fake news? Fake news is false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views, gain power over someone else or made as a joke. So how do we combat fake news? The Huffington Post wrote an article about how it should be combated. They said that States should require schools to teach media literacy to combat fake news.

         So in theory that seems like a great idea! But the chances of that happening seem slim. One reason is because most schools are on a budget and can't afford to bring in another teacher. Another reason is that everyone has a bias. But there are some good things that can come out of this too. If more classes are taught on media literacy there will be less fake news because people will realize whats fake and what isn't. I personally think that it's a good idea I dont think that it should be forced by every state though. When dealing with fake news the more educated you are the better, why well its simple if you know about how to detect fake news you are less likely to believe it and spread it. 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/states-should-require-schools-to-teach-media-literacy_us_59676573e4b07b5e1d96ed86

Blog Post 3: The Internet and its Effect on Free Speech

Professor Smith spoke about the the internet and how that effects free speech. There are plenty of instances on free speech and how the government has dealt with free speech on the internet. The government (Supreme Court) has stated that the internet is a area that people can use and have a right to free speech. For example a blog is considered free speech. Not only is it important that the internet allows you to have free speech but that it is preserved because it is a place where we can express ourselves and our feelings on something just like if we were to do in person. As time as gone on and the internet has gotten more sophisticated and since it has gotten more sophisticated we have seen the threat to freedom of speech on the internet become more and more of a problem. For example the incident that occurred with Facebook violating peoples privacy and then being accused of having connections with Russia which sensors the peoples internet access made a lot of people worried that facebook was picking and choosing which articles would get really big and which ones wouldn't and that it was suppressing our freedom of speech. This turned out to be completely false and inaccurate but that still didn't stop people from speculating and making false accusations.