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Ann Dorn was the wifi of a police officer in St. Louis. During the riots her husband was called to help stop the violence and ended up dying in the process. Ann goes on to explain the details of the night it happened, and also talked about how violence is never the answer. I agree that violence and looting wasn't the best form of protest for what happened and there definitely were more peaceful options. I also want to acknowledge though that none of the protests would have taken place, if George Floyd wasn't murdered.

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Kamala Harris being Joe Biden's running mate is creating history just by running. Her parents are black and Asian which makes her the second black woman to be on the US Senate. She is also the first black and Asian-American to be on a major party presidential ticket. She's been a critic of Republican President Donald Trump since she has mostly democratic views.

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Picking and choosing issues to focus on leaves others in the dark

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Picking and choosing issues to focus on leaves others in the dark

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When Ann Dorn spoke about her husband's death, she used it to support the Trump campaign, although he was not a Trump supporter, which is a very bad way to honor his memory. Dorn focuses only on this and the looting and uses it to put down the Black Lives Matter movement as a whole. She condemns looters for killing her husband but not the racial injustice in the country.  She draws attention away from the actual racial injustice and only focuses on the looting aspect. In reality, most people have been peacefully protesting anyway.

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The controversial second amendment gives people the right to keep and bear arms, even a 17 year old. The right to bear arms for hunting or other recreational activities may not be okay, but it’s a different story than bringing these types of weapons to this type of event. Kevin Mathewson made a post on Facebook rounding up “patriots willing to take arms and defend (Kenosha) from the evil thugs.” Kyle Rittenhouse came with his fire arm, killing two and injuring one. It all feels too familiar.

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In Trump's speech, he contradicts himself in so many ways. Trump states that he will quickly return the country to full employment, soaring incomes, and record prosperity. He also goes to say that he will defend America against all threats and protect America against all dangers. I don't understand how he could speak so highly about the future of his administration, if he can't even get it under control now. So many jobs were lost due to the pandemic that endangered the lives of millions.

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The Republican National Convention focused on Trump's promise to "make america great again" With lots of people skeptical with the pandemic and loss of over 170,000 Americans President Trump had the tough task of creating a speech that will gain or keep his supporters loyal. With him promising to expand charter schools, hire more police officers,  ban “sanctuary cities” and bolster the manufacturing sector he focused on striking fear into the hearts of Americans with all the troubling times going on instead of giving an answer to the madness. Other Republicans spoke in awe of Trump saying he was an exception president always going back to the ideal of "making American great again".

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I re-watched the Cardi B and Joe Biden conversation on their beliefs. In this interview it seemed like Cardi B was keeping it real about COVID, police brutality, and the upcoming 2020 presidential election. Cardi make it very clear that she does not like Trump in office. Cardi believes that Trump is not a good influence as president because he is leading us down a very dangerous road with COVID. Trump makes it seems like there is no pandemic going on. With that, Cardi relates this back to free medicare for all. Joe Biden uses this interview as a political out reach to possibly get votes for him. I noticed through out this entire video he really only talks about the votes in this election.

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Ann Dorn delivered a speech at the 4th night of the RNC. The speech detailed her husband as being brutally murderd by looters during BLM protests. The beginning and middle of her speech was heartfelt and understandable, her husband had recently passed, she described him as a good man, and he was killed. However, I do not understand the ending. She praises President Trump at the end of her speech for sending federal agents to "restore order" and that he understands that BLM protests ought to be peaceful. It is completley understandable that after what she had been through that she would speak on behalf of nonviolence and peaceful protesting, but that is counterintuitive to supporting Trump. Those federal agents came in and did not focus specifically on looting, they came after ALL protests. He does not support any time of protesting, or even the movement itself. He brands BLM protests as "radical leftists of ANTIFA insighting violence." I understand Ms. Dorn's pain, but I cannot understand why she would support a canidate that thrives off of division of people, civil unrest, and anger.

This brings me to my second point, which is how the speech acts under the assumption that BLM protests are in majortiy, or even in large part violent. According to a Washington Post article released today, 92% of protests are peaceful. These riuots are not widespread, there a very, VERY small majority of what is occurring during protests. The RNC manipulated Ms. Dorn's pain, and used her real story to produce a false, misleading message. The REAL violence occuring, is against people of color. The US policing system has been killing black and brown bodies at a much much higher rate. If the administration wanted to stop public outrage and violence, they wouldn't send federal agents, they'd make real substantial change to make pilicing better.

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Ann Dorn, widow of sergeant David Dorn with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,  was used in the RNC to share her story regarding the death of her husband. I believe Trump's campaign should've never used her grief for the RNC. Obviously, she was upset about the incident, but her kids even said her husband wasn't even a Trump supporter. Dorn's frustration clouded her judgement and the campaign took advantage of that. Furthermore, yes her husband was killed, but he would've never had to leave his house that night if the rioting and looting never started. Why did it start in the first place? One reason is because the man that she's supporting doesn't step up and acknowledge the wrongful deaths of so many African Americans.

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I like his notion that you should vote for somebody that you believe in, not for someone that necessarily shares your party. I am left-leaning but I don’t necessarily treat the Democratic party like they’re the best ever either. I agree Trump has played a big part in the polarized political climate we have today but I don’t think that if Joe Biden is elected that he will step into the presidency as a great unifier. Hopefully, he will lead the country to better ways in handling COVID and be open to listening to grassroots movements on how to better race relations on a policy level. But I believe that if we are to better our country together than it needs to start from the ground up. Confronting racism in our own communities is important if we are to hope we can come together. I do hope Biden becomes president but I don’t believe that Democratic leaders will be our saviors unless we hold them accountable by not settling for the bare minimum.

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I feel like there's a double standard when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. Even during the time that the 2nd Amendment was created, enslaved Black people and indigenous people were not guaranteed these rights. It was a selective group of people who the 2nd Amendment applied to then. White men had the right to bear arms against these groups. Jump to 2020, it still seems like it's a selective group of people that the 2nd Amendment applies to. Kenneth Walker was arrested for using his legally owned firearm trying to protect himself, Breonna Taylor, and the house, when the police raided their home. People are justifying Deon Kay being shot to death because he was holding a gun, even though he tossed the weapon away before or as he was shot. But Kevin Mathewson felt as though he was only protecting his city by rallying a group of people armed to actively combat the protestors in Kenosha. Incidents such as these really does make one wonder who the 2nd Amendment applies to.

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Without doubt that it's a tragedy what happened to her husband, Ann Dorn's video in which she endorses Trump's campaign doesn't seem to be for the right reasons.She claims that she wants Trump to "help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change." I think what she fails to realize is the fact that these "nightmares" that we are witnessing are only an act of resilience and a response to the years and years of oppression that black people have been face with. It is stated that her husband didn't support President Trump and with that, it is obvious that the Trump administration is only trying to exploit the death of someone and use it to their advantage.

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I think right from the jump, it was almost predictable that Trump's speech was going to be all about Biden and painting him as a bad person and just straight up attacking him. Despite all the problems our country right now, he only had the time to attack and make jokes about Biden while delusionally  believing that he has made good on his promise to "make America great again". I think it's important to point out the fact that Trump explicitly stated that "Joe Biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, Biden wants to keep us completely in the dark...He has no clue". The reason why I think it's important to point this out is because Trump claims that Biden has no clue but the irony is America has been in the dark ever since he became President and if anyone has no idea or clue what he's doing, it's definitely Trump. The president is the person the people are supposed to look to when things aren't going right but it isn't the case as even the president has chosen to be ignorant by leading people to believe that certain safety practices that could help slow down the spread of the virus are false and this was evident as most of the people in attendance didn't have masks on.

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My initial reaction was that Cardi B is supporting the wrong candidate because her ideal are more of what Bernie would have supported. Biden smiled along because he didn't really want anything she was saying to happen. This is a big representation of how political figures don't take into account the peoples actual needs and wants. There is big disconnection between Biden and the people that are supposed to support him. He still put on a face and can fool his fans even if he goes behind their back and does the opposite of what they want. Overall Trump does the same thing as Biden and neither side really represents their followers.

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The former governor John Kaisich announced that he won't be supporting Trump for the second time in a row and will in fact be supporting the Biden campaign. This is very impactful because Kasich is a strong republican figure in politics. This upcoming election is shown not to be a battle of the left and the right but a battle of unity and division. Kasich is trying to do what is best for the country and not have political bias.

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The fact that a big republican name has come out saying he will vote for Biden shows that Trump is losing his republican base. While Kasich did not vote for Trump in the last election, it still shows that republicans are becoming supportive of Trump. Trump is only appealing to certain republicans, and is losing more and more as he continues speaking. Kasich says that he wants a united America, and that Trump is dividing us. This is an important message, and shows that in this upcoming election we are not only voting for policies, but also how united we will be.

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In Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention it does not feel as though he is trying to pull in new voters, but rather is struggling to hold onto the ones her has. It does not seem like he is addressing all of the republican party, but rather just the far right members of his party. He is losing many non hardcore republicans and his extremely conservative statements is not helping to bring them back. By stating “My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement” he is supporting the murders that have happened across our country by those in uniform.

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Throughout the RNC Trump and the Republicans continued to keep attacking Biden throughout. Trump stated this '"Biden's record is a shameful roll call of the most catastrophic betrayals and blunders in our lifetime," Trump said. "He has spent his entire career on the wrong side of history."' Trump is trying to discredit everything about Biden and taking the approach of he will win by making Biden seem like a very bad unqualified person. Trump here has the freedom of speech. Trumps speech in this regard is very unprofessional.

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Ann Dorn Spoke about her late husbands death in her testamonial on the Republican National Convention. She talks about how the looters shot David Dorn while the former police officer was protecting one of his friends shops during a violent protest. Later David Dorns daughter speaks out about her step mothers speach saying that he was not a trump supporter and wouldn't have been happy that she used his death to further Trumps Law and order agenda. I think that its apaulling to witness her explotation of his death knowing full well that he would not have been in support of it.

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I truly do not understand why some Americans believe that the second amendment is actually applicable in today's society. Each month we hear of a different shooting incident that happens and we have become numb to the fact that people are dying due to gun violence. We are the only country in the world that allows its citizens to own firearms legally. I have still yet to hear a story on the news about a person who used their fire arm in the "correct" scenario.

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In a recent interview governor John Kasich has announced he will supporting democratic nominee Joe Biden this upcoming election. This was a shock to many people as Kasich identifies as a republican. I think this is critical to show people that you can vote for the best candidate that fits your needs instead of your party's nominee. A partisan lens for this upcoming election is efficient because so many people will feel they are more seen and heard instead of just voting for their parties candidate they don't really favor.

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Former governor Kasich said publicly that he now supports Joe Biden in the presidential race. This is very suppressing because John Kasich is know to be on the republican party while Joe Biden is on the democratic party. I believe Kasich may have similar ideas as Biden or he maybe he could see damage the President Trump may occur in the future if he stays as the president of the United States.

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In Trumps speech he says that Biden and other Democrats will be the downfall of our country because "they spend so much time tearing it down how will they fix it". I think that for the country to be where it needs to be it may need to be as Trump puts it "torn down" so that it can be rebuilt in a way that eliminates problems we have like police brutality.

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The second amendment, the right to bear arms was used to defend a group of people that shot and killed 2 and injured 1 of the peaceful protesters who protested for Jacob Blake in Kenosha. Although it is legal to carry weapons it is not to use them and this group did after claiming the protesters were "evil thugs" and tried to use the law to protect themselves.

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In his nomination acceptance speech, Trump spent a lot of time discussing Joe Biden and everything he saw to be wrong with him. Of course as a politician you want to show people that you are the right choice and not your opponent, but Trump is under a lot of fire right now in his office, because he's really dropped the ball on a lot of things, especially in addressing the pandemic in a proper manner. He really needed to spend less time trying to convince people to hate Biden, and more time working on his own image. Here is an interesting quote I found from Trump, . “This election will decide whether we save the American dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny,” I just feel this quote is very telling to how he views himself. It also brings me back to all the empty promises made at the beginning of presidency.

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This shooting hits very close to home not only because he is a black man but also because he is an Evanstonian. This shooting has open a door for politicians to use has a way to get votes. The aftermath of the shooting was riot which Trump was quick to blame Joe Biden the person running against Trump for President. Hoping he would win vote.

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech Trump says Biden will be the ’destroyer of American greatness"  He also says  "No one will be safe in Bidens America". Throughout his speech he bashed Biden and hoping he won more votes.

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On the last day of the Republican National Convention, Trump accepted his nomination to be this years republican canidate for President of the United States.  There was around 1,500 people who came to  to cheer him on, the majority of whom not wearing masks or social distancing. This continues to show Trumps blatant disregard of the CDC's COVID-19 recomendation and basically says shows that he puts politicals over peoples health. In his speach he also speaks about the protests that have been happening lately.  Trumps says that in this election we decide weather we should protect the "law abiding cittizes" or the " radical movement". hes making the case that we shouldnt be protecting the protesters and their constitutional right, which holds together our democratic government. Without this we risk creating a fascist and totalitarian government.

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John Kasich ran agianst Donald Trump in the 2016 election as a republican. In a recent CNN interview, Kasich explains why he is voting blue this election. He talks about how in a time of such polarization in this country that it is frowned upon to vote out of your affiliated party. I think that what Kasich is doing is not only right but extraordinarily American. George Washington himself warned our the people during his farewell speech about the dangers of political parties. People should feel confident to vote for the person who they think is best fit to run this country, not just because their party endorces a ciertain person.  Kasich realizes that although Trump is nominated by the republican party, he is not fit to run this country.

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During the RNC Trump and some of his fellow speakers tried to make it seem like COVID was completely in the past and they didn't follow many safety precautions. An article from cnn states that trump and his administration/ republican people were seen many of times using past tense when talking about COVID as well as seen without masks not social distancing. Trump has the freedom to decide other peoples freedoms which he could limit a little bit to get this virus under control which he's thinking is already over.

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When reading the article from Trumps actions I know that we live in two different Americas. Trump talked about how if re elected he would make America great again for the law abiding  citizen. Trump fails to realize that we are in his reign and all of the violence in support of BLM movement that he labels a "radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it,". Trump uses his freedom of press to throw shots at Biden and the left. He claims defunding the police is unnecessary and he doesn't see a problem with the police killing people. Reading this article has made me realize that he can't fix the problem if he can't see it. Biden can see the problem but will he fix it?

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Ann Dorn who is a Trump supporter used her freedom to exploit her husbands death to try and advance Trumps campaign. Ann Dorn's deceased husband was the police cheif of St. Louis and a black man, who we know from her daughter was not a Trump supporter. Her husband died from a gun shot by looters. Trumps campaign team used his death as a way to try and paint the BLM movement in a bad light. The problem with this is the NRA  doesn't have to answer for school shooters why should BLM have to answer for looters.

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In his recent CNN interview, former governor John Kasich publicly announced his backing of Joe Biden. This is significant because Kasich is seen as a republican representative, and he is advocating for the democratic nominee. I think it's good that even though these officials are aware that they will not agree all the time, they are able to see this upcoming election from a somewhat partisan lens and recognize that this election is a matter of keeping this country afloat and trying to find whats best for our country.

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Trump's accusation of the way Biden sees the USA reflects on his own poor leadership

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Trump's accusation of the way Biden sees the USA reflects on his own poor leadership

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When watching Trump's speech accepting his nomination, he speaks of false hope to a crowd of thousands of people packed together without masks, which shows how bad of an influence he has on the country and how poorly he handled the pandemic, among other things. Trump also claims that Biden cannot lead the US if he "tears it down" by thinking it is a land racial, economic, and social injustice. However, if Trump cannot acknowledge America's flaws, how is he fit to lead the country? These injustices that he denounces are extremely prevalent in American culture and society, so we need a president who will recognize that and implement change, not someone who rejects facts and ignores injustice in the country.

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Trump's freedom to exploit landmarks/ places of worship/ people as "props" for his propaganda 

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Trump's freedom to exploit landmarks/ places of worship/ people as "props" for his propaganda 

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President Trump held the Republican National Convention in front of the white house. This is not the first time he utilized certain backgrounds to benefit his  career. In June, while protesters were being tear gassed by militarized police officers, Trump posed for the camera holding up the Bible outside of St. John's Episcopal church in D.C. An article posted on NPR stated, '' 'There was no reaching out, no sense that it would require some sort of authorization before using the church as a backdrop in that way," said the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal bishop of Washington," (Gjelten). Without consent from the church, Trump abused his platform to further divide the country.

Trump continues to exploit people for his campaign as well. The RNC highlighted a Ann Dorn's speech to negate the protests for Black lives and target U.S citizens to vote for his campaign. A Yahoo News article stated, "Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion as she recounted how her husband, a retired Black police captain, David Dorn, 77, was killed. “They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them"(Knowels).  However, the daughter of Dorn offered a rebuttal, "We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not,.. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump’s law-and-order agenda,” (Knowels). It was unethical for both Ann Dorn and Trump to use the unfortunate death of David Dorn for the Republican's benefit.  They only showed one side of the story and didn't acknowledge the voices of his daughters. Additionally, I don't think it is appropriate to use looting as a way to attack the movement for Black lives. Many looters are part of anti-government groups who use the protest to their advantage. Other times, looting is justified because it is one side effect of the the reason people are protesting in the first place. An article posted in the Atlantic, "Why people Loot" by Olga Khazan said, "In this case, the root cause is yet another killing of a black man by a white police officer. To fully eliminate looting, you’d have to eliminate the conditions that make people upset enough to protest."

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The contradiction that Trump portrays is very prominent in his RNC speech. He claims great things about the covid crisis, saying how advanced our testing system is and how reductions in cases is notable. Yet, his audience consisted of a huge gathering of supporters, almost zero wearing masks or obeying social distancing. This speaks a lot to race and class, and how those more privileged don't feel the need to be careful with the crisis and can easily brush it off their shoulder.

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Trump reinforces the idea that politicians are often "actors," utilizing fake promises to make themselves appear more desirable. For instance, Trump states that he will quickly return the country to full employment, soaring incomes, and record prosperity. These promises simply cannot be accomplished under his administration, seeing how poorly they've handled the pandemic thus far. Trump tends to make these promises to get claps and cheers, without acknowledging how he will achieve them or when.

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I read the Chicago Tribune article by Katherine Rosenburg-Douglas regarding the recent murders in Kenosha due to White Nationalism and Supremacy.  Rosenburg-Douglas refers to these white supremacist groups as "militia groups", which I think is too comfortable of a label regarding domestic terrorism. Despite Kenosha's Mayor, John Antaramian, the article stated, "Kenosha Police Chief Dan Miskinis appeared to agree, saying Mathewson and the others were out to protect property and “exercise their constitutional right" (Rosenburg-Douglas). It doesn't surprise me that the  police force that brutalized Jacob Blake supports the second amendment. Clearly this police department, like every other , perpetuates anti-black police violence. No reforms will undo the institutionalized racism and internal biases  each cop holds, the system must be abolished.

With that said, I believe that people should not have the right to bear arms in large public assemblies. Nor should facebook groups, like Kevin Mathewson's, encourage violence both verbally and physically.  What happened in Kenosha was NOT self-defence, it was a hate crime.

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During the RNC, something that really stuck out to me was when Trump quoted " I have done more for the African American community than Abraham Lincoln." This can be easily debated against and for, but in my opinion I think that him saying that is going to cause a lot of issues with older black voters for in my opinion they are very uneducated with history itself with them believing what was taught in school, which most is a lie. If people really knew about Lincoln, they would know he believed in segregation and after his idea of "freeing the slaves" he planned to send them back to Africa. This can be tied back to today with Trump trying to reverse the Fair Housing Act which would cause a lot of black populations or people of color population in various suburbs in the country to decrease. I believe that politicians from the major parties honestly use black people as a pawn piece built upon white guilt and pityness to try to reparate people after slavery with no financial aspect towards these reparations. If I was to be honest the most impactful thing I think that Trump has done that has really effected the black community positively was the prison reform act he signed which helps the reverse the effects of the war on drugs convictions by reducing sentences to freeing the thousands on inmates effected by it. by  Out of everything, I really believe that Lincoln and Trump are different, but to say one did more than another is wrong because they both did one thing that really made impact for the black community(Abraham Lincoln Civil War; despite it most being focused on the economy than slaves).

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With the rise of militia groups and the influence of social media the 2nd amendment is one of the most controversial ideas from the bill of rights. With us living in a time where guns are the number weapon used in homicides, let alone various types of violence people believe that one should be allowed to carry a weapon. This comes into play where on Facebook there are various groups of people who call themselves militias groups who create and bring idea of violence to be carried out with firearms. Due to the recent shooting in Kenosha by a 17 year old boy who was involved in one of the militias groups, Facebook has been cracking down on these groups. But I mean its better late than never. Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have been going through some arguments in the political scene when it comes to Facebook allowing false information to be posted online, leading to events where people take violent action based off what they seen on the app.

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Fledgling militia group uses Facebook and the 2nd Amendment to justify their actions

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Fledgling militia group uses Facebook and the 2nd Amendment to justify their actions

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Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a white officer, which has spurred numerous demonstrations and peaceful protests in Wisconsin. Kevin Mathewson made a post on Facebook calling all "patriots willing to take up arms and defend (Kenosha) from the evil thugs.” Kyle Rittenhouse came armed to a demonstration, killing two, and wounding the third. The second amendment gives Americans the freedom to keep and bear arms, yet no one should have ever been at these demonstrations carrying semi-automatic weapons.

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Firstly, what astonished me was the 1,000+ people in attendance that weren't wearing masks or social distanced. Secondly, rather than giving America hope, Trump provoked fear of what's to come if Americans don't give him their vote. Lastly, he discussed how Biden would strip away Americans freedom to carry weapons, yet Trump is failing to see that there needs to be gun regulation/laws. People are dying everyday from gun usage. He also tries to scare the listeners by saying that Biden will defund police and take away Americans protection, yet there are people dying at the hands of officers abusing their power.

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Republicans are now rooting for Democrats...will it matter?

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Republicans are now rooting for Democrats...will it matter?

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Clyburn praises 'adopted son of South Carolina' Joe Biden in speech highlighting race

Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is the man who gave Biden's campaign a jolt of energy after endorsing him in the state's Democratic primary in February.

Black voters were essential to Biden's securing the nomination and, in his speech tonight, Clyburn seem to acknowledge to be speaking directly to many of those voters.

Clyburn gave a nod to the racial reckoning currently taking place in the U.S., describing the slave ships that arrived on South Carolina's shores centuries ago, the white supremacist that murdered nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015, the recent removal of Confederate monuments and a forthcoming museum dedicated to African American history.

"Much like the country as a whole, we are stepping out from the shadows of our past - and beginning to lay the groundwork for a more just future," Clyburn said, adding that a Biden presidency would be forward-looking and one of unity and empathy.

"That's why I stand with Joe, and why he will always be an adopted son of South Carolina," he said. "Joe Biden is as good a man as he is a leader. I have said before and wish to reiterate tonight: We know Joe - but more importantly, Joe knows us."

St. Louis couple who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters will join GOP convention

A source familiar with the planning confirms to NBC News that the St. Louis couple who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters will participate in the GOP convention next week.

As first reported by the Washington Post, Patricia and Mark McCloskey will join the mostly virtual Republican National Convention next week to express support for Trump.

Dems turn to Bruce Springsteen to spark 'The Rising'

Less than 20 minutes into the first night of the DNC, and we've got our first Bruce Springsteen jam.

A video montage with a Biden voice over set to "The Rising," featuring a brief shot of The Boss himself, provided a musical interlude between some of the heavier interviews and speeches.

The song comes from Springsteen's 2002 album, most of which was written in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. It was a critical and commercial hit.

Springsteen has a pretty tight relationship with some of the big names in the Democratic party. He even played "The Rising" at Obama's inauguration in 2009.

George Floyd's brother honors those killed by police with moment of silence at DNC

Philonise Floyd honored his brother and others killed by police in a moment of silence at Monday night's Democratic National Convention.

He characterized George, who was killed while in police custody in May, as "selfless" and a "giving spirit" who "always made sacrifices for his family, friends, and even complete strangers."

After his brother's death, his "spirit" poured into streets around the globe with Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests. His speech could be a poignant reminder to voters about the country's racial strife and the administration's response to it over the years.

"It's a fitting legacy for our brother. But George should be alive today. Breonna Taylor should be alive today," he said. "Ahmaud Arbery should be alive today. Eric Garner should be alive today. Stephon Clark, Atatiana Jefferson, Sandra Bland-they should all be alive today."

He added, "So it's up to us to carry on the fight for justice. Our actions will be their legacies. We must always find ourselves in what John Lewis called 'good trouble.' For the names we do not know, the faces we will never see, those we can't mourn because their murders didn't go viral."

Bowser says 'we can't just say' Black Lives Matter

Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., who gained notoriety for her handling of police brutality protests in the nation's capital, lambasted the Trump administration's response to the demonstrations following George Floyd's death.

"While we were peacefully protesting, Donald Trump was plotting," Bowser said. "He stood in front of one of our most treasured houses of worship and held a Bible for a photo op. He sent troops in camouflage into our streets. He sent tear gas into the air - federal helicopters, too. I knew if he did this to D.C., he would do it to your city or your town."

"I have a 2-year-old daughter," she added. "I want her to grow up in an America where she's not scared to walk to the store. An America where she's safe behind the doors of her own home. An America where the president doesn't fan the flames of racism, and looks out for all of us."

Bowser, speaking from Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, said that by electing Biden and Harris, "We will say: 'Next.'"

"We can't just say those words," she said. "We have to live those words. We have to undo the laws and systems that have codified racism for far too long."

Voters around the country share their story

Longoria kicked off the program by interviewing different people from around the country impacted by President Doanld Trump's policy decisions.

She spoke to a Pennsylvania farmer hit hard by the trade war, a Texas nurse struggling with reopening amid the pandemic, a small business owner unsure if he can rebound from the coronavirus and a teen activist trying to find new ways to communicate with her peers in the age of social distancing.

DNC begins with national anthem from all states and territories

The Democrats opened the convention with a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" sung by people on video in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

Biden's grandchildren also recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

And we're off!

Actress and activist Eva Longoria, who will be emceeing the first night of the Democratic National Convention, introduced Monday's program with a brief speech. Longoria, co-founder of the Latino Victory Fund, is one of four actresses who will emcee the convention, each on their own night.

Longoria has been active in politics for more than a decade, contributing significant amounts to getting Latinos elected through Latino Victory and backing Obama's candidacy. She has also worked to improve women's presence in film and recently launched Movimiento Latino to pull in Latino forces to the uprisings begun by the Black Lives Matter Movement.

After she spoke, a series of diverse speakers addressed the convention in a pre-recorded video.

And, with House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., then officially gaveling in the convention, we're off...

Barack Obama drops his summer playlist, features plenty of artists coming to the DNC

Former President Barack Obama dropped the 2020 edition of his habitual summer playlist on Monday. And wouldn't you know it - there's plenty of artists on it slated to perform at the DNC this week!

"Over the past few months, I've spent a lot of time listening to music with my family," Obama wrote. "I wanted to share some of my favorites from the summer-including songs from some of the artists at this week's @DemConvention. Hope you enjoy it."

The listen includes eight artists who will perform at the DNC over the next few days including Leon Bridges, Common, Billie Eilish and Jennifer Hudson.

Also making the list: classics from Bob Marley & The Wailers ("Could You Be Loved") and Billie Holiday ("I'll Be Seeing You") along with a bevy of newer hits. (This reporter is partial to "12.38" from Childish Gambino.)

An early #tbt from Jill Biden

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Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore speaks at the 2020 DNC

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Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is the man who gave Biden's campaign a jolt of energy after endorsing him in the state's Democratic primary in February. Black voters were essential to Biden's securing the nomination and, in his speech tonight, Clyburn seem to acknowledge to be speaking directly to many of those voters.