Category: Government homework help

The assigned county is shelby county Texas. Select one issue you believe is critical to your assigned county. Identify an interest group active in Texas that could either support or oppose making changes within the county based on your identified issue. Include some background information on that group and write an editorial on the issue and the group’s potential input. (CT/SR/PR). 5 pages minium.

Please watch the video then read the articles above and include the arguments and examples in your answers to the following questions: 
VIDEO 

SOURCES 
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/04/03/q-three-experts-discuss-civic-engagement-texas/
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/04/03/q-three-experts-discuss-civic-engagement-texas/
1) What is civic engagement, according to the report? 
2) What does the 2018 Texas Civic Health Index say about civic engagement in Texas? Is it still true?
3) Why do you think Texans are not civically engaged? Is it political culture, time, money, etc?

Compose a written response to the given prompt containing a minimum of 150 words. After you have posted your discussion, respond thoughtfully to the Discussion Topic posts of at least two other classmates. Be sure to follow the Rubric attached at the bottom.

 Political Participation
*Please make sure to write a well-considered response of at least 200 words and then respond to one classmate in a substantive and respectful way. Remember, you do not have to agree with the views presented, only respond in a respectful way.*
One of the factors for people not voting is “not knowing” about the candidates or the issues. As such, creating a game plan to make yourself aware of the issues before an election is a necessary activity. Before reading what others say about this topic, come up with and describe for us your own a game plan or strategy for finding out about candidates and issues so you can become a more educated/knowledgeable voter.

Discussion 3 – Money in Politic
Discussion – Review the Influence of money on American Politics.
    •    Compare the fundraising for two candidates for President of the the USA for 2024.
    •    Find a news article that discusses the issue to include in your review.
    •    Mention how much of the money is local and how much is from outside the district. One good source is Opensecrets.org.
    •    What impact do you think the money had on the race? 
Directions
Cover the questions posed in Discussion. Your main post should be one page at most.

 
QUESTION ONE:  Reality Dislocation? 
“It is entirely possible that the true and authentic reality is being drowned out by countless superficial information bits noisily and breathlessly presented in propaganda fashion. Consequently, one may be entirely knowledgeable about a thousand details and nevertheless, because of ignorance regarding the core of the matter, remain without basic insight … Arnold Gehlen labeled it “a fundamental ignorance, created by technology and nourished by information . . . … the place of authentic reality is taken over by fictitious reality; my perception is indeed still directed toward an object, but now it is pseudoreality, deceptively appearing as being real, so much so that it becomes almost impossible any more to discern the truth.” (Josef Pieper – Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power,” 1974)
“Whether it be the intrusion of hackers, a major explosion at the World Trade Center, of a bombing attack by bin Laden, all of these greatly exceed the frequency bandwidths understood by the American military . . . This is because they have never taken into consideration and have even refused to consider means that are contrary to tradition and to select measures of operation other than military means.” (Col Qiao Liang, Col Wang Xiangsui, Unrestricted Warfare, 1999)
 Josef Pieper’s quote (above) has been used to suggest that intense concentration on data bits in support of models can degrade discernment over the “core of the matter” to the point where reality dislocation occurs.  Has the dominance of the social sciences in the conduct of the counter-terror effort since 9/11 pushed that effort into Pieper calls pseudoreality (or the Matrix’s identities as the Blue Pill universe)? A few questions to consider when answering:
Did we win or lose in Afghanistan? 
Did terrorism succeed in reducing American power and prestige along lines forecast by the Islamic Movement? 
Has America’s response been reduced to incoherence because of it? 
 When answering the question, please account for the observations of the two Chinese colonels from Unrestricted Warfare, as posted above. 
 Question TWO:  Suicide Terrorism 
1PAPE1.pdf Download 1PAPE1.pdf Please read this article (click on the link). 
Do you agree with Jordon Smith’s characterization of Robert Pape’s argument that terrorism is a RATIONAL, goal-directed, strategic response aimed at achieving a certain objective? Why or why not? Does the article sustain a narrative or does it orient on the terror threats as they present themselves? 
Cite at least three supporting examples for your argument based on groups we have learned about this semester.
 (Here, the opposite of rational is not ‘irrational’ or ‘crazy’.  Pape is not arguing about the mental health of terrorists, but whether they are capable of formulating and carrying out a strategy aimed at achieving an objective.
 
Question Three:  Types of Terrorism (25 points)
Are terrorists who they say they are unless proven otherwise? When confronted with terrorism by groups that define themselves and the reason they fight, should that be the start point of the counter-terror effort or should the investigation begin with the categories of terrorism?
Take a look at your textbook and note all the different TYPES of terrorism which they identify (nationalist terrorism;  religiously-based terrorism, domestic terrorism, etc.)
Do you think it is useful to break down terrorism into different types in this way? 
Why is it important to be able to say what type of terrorist someone is? 
Do you think that the differences between the groups are more important – or are the similarities between groups more important, and why?
 
Question Four:   Nationalist Terrorism (25 points)
Some analysts have argued that our world is becoming more globalized.  People travel more, they interact with others through the internet and as a result, we are perhaps becoming more nationalistic.
Do you think that Nationalist Terrorism is a response to globalization (or, in the alternative, terrorism by those seeking the destruction of national identity) will at some point cease to be a force in international relations, or will it always be an important source of conflict?  IF you think it is becoming less important, what other forces are perhaps becoming more important?
 

 
Read Chapters 1 and 2 of the Scandura (2022) text. Focusing on the Case Study 1.1 (pp. 26-28) and Case Study 2.1 (pp. 50-51),
Choose the Case Study that is most interesting to you. You will only be addressing one case study and its discussion questions rather than both. 
You will use the discussion questions (or an abbreviation of them) as the heading correctly formatted in center, bold, and title caps.
The textbook is a starting off point. To complete this assignment correctly and earn full points, you must cite an academic journal article Open source sources (available without a login) will not be accepted. Hint: If you locate a good article, you only need one for each assignment rather than locating one to address each question.
I have attached the Case Study for pages 26-28

 What is your opinion of GEN Frank’s statement?
 Did this line of thinking add to the difficulty of planning for Stability Operations?
 How did this unexpected transition affect personnel requirements for the newly designated CJTF-7?
 How would the JIPOE analysis assisted the commander during the transition to Phase IV? (J604)
 What were the strategic and operational situations that led to General Franks’ statement that “Phase IV would be relatively short” (J605, J606)

Do we really know how many terrorists are there in the world today?  In the United States?  How many terrorist incidents occurred last year? How do we know all the events qualified as terrorism fit the statutory framework?
As you have seen in this week’s readings, it may actually be very difficult to answer these questions.  As a result, it’s also difficult to answer a simple question like ‘Are we winning or losing the war on terror?’
For this week’s discussion, please begin by visiting the START terrorist incidents database, found here:  https://start.umd.edu/Links to an external site.
Read about the databaseLinks to an external site.
Now read about some of the METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES which researchers have faced in defining and measuring terrorismLinks to an external site.:
Spend some time exploring the database.  Choose a country and look at some trends in that country regarding terrorist incidents over time.
Then respond to the following questions. But as you do, consider Josef Pieper’s “countless superficial information bits” in the absence of knowing the core of the matter while also pondering Brigadier S.K. Malik’s statement that the object of terror is the destruction of faith:
What organizations support or assist START in the development of the data set it puts out on terrorism?
 Why is it so difficult to define and label terrorism and terrorist activities?  Compare and contrast the issues raised by Englund and Stohl to the issues raised in the terrorism database.  Are the major obstacles to defining and measuring terrorism purely political, purely methodological or some combination of the two?  How are the methodological and political obstacles intertwined?
What controversies have arisen in trying to label and measure terrorism?  What specific problems did you identify in your exploration of the START database for your particular country?
 Why does this debate about DEFINING terrorism matter to policymakers and what are some ways which academics have tried to resolve it?

 
emester Project Part I: Preparing to Run
 Know your district.  Go to:  http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx, and discover the district number, and who represents you either in the Texas house or state senate. 
Go to your current representative’s page and look at the district analyses documents.

What does your district look like (in terms of population, age, education, employment, election results?
What issues arise based upon the district’s demographics (this will help you think about your platform)

The purpose of the Semester Project is to mount a campaign for either the Texas house of representatives or the Texas state senate (not US!).  Therefore, Part I serves a few purposes:  it gets you to choose which, to figure out who currently represents you, and to learn about the district and the people you wish to serve.  To that end, you’ll put in your address, find the legislator whose seat you want, go to his/her webpage, and read the District Analysis documents (pdfs).  Also look at the district map.  What can you discuss?  
(1)  Which cities fall in your district
(2)  Is it primarily a Democratic or Republican district (you’ll need to factor that in later in the project)
(3)  Is it rural or urban?  Wealthy or less so?  Educated or less so? 
(4)  What industries are present in your district?  What do people do for a living?  
Once you discover these things, you can start your three generic issue stands.  Do you need more college-educated folks in your district?  What’s infrastructure like in your district, and does it help or hinder your constituents?  Is it a young or old district (if younger, education is key; if older, taxes and benefits are keys).  At this point in the project, you are learning about the place and people you want to represent.
Don’t forget to cite any sources used!  And remember, look at the grading rubric.  This, like the other parts of the project, should be 2-3 double spaced pages, with introductions and conclusions.