Author: Alanna Fichtel
If you didn’t follow politics this week, you missed out on the presidential election candidates continuing to fight tooth and nail. There’s also another issue about the government and cell phone privacy, but this time Apple isn’t involved.
Election 2016
What you need to know: It seems like we’re at a stalemate, with all the candidates still powering full speed ahead. Kasich still thinks he has a chance, even though he’s only won one state so far. Some think he could be a sort of compromise pick, but even his loyal supporters know it’s a long shot.
Trump has lost some races, but explained this week how losing isn’t his own fault. It’s the Republican system he says is “rigged.” But in reality, the system of being able to earn a higher share of delegates than votes has worked more often in Trump’s favor.
Paul Ryan has stated he will not run…and he sounds pretty serious about it this time. He says if you want to be President, should run for it. And he doesn’t want to be President.
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Meanwhile, the Democratic hopefuls have been spending a lot of time in the Big Apple before the primary next week. The two candidates went head to head in a debate in Brooklyn Thursday night. The cheers from the crowd fired up the debaters as they attacked each other on issues like climate change, gun control, and Wall Street.
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Why it matters: With Ryan out for sure, Republicans are back to finding a way to defeat Trump. Though instead of recruiting a new candidate if there is a contested nomination, many politicians, including Ryan, think the best course of action would be to choose from the pool of candidates who have already participated in this election. And we know there were a lot of them.
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The heated debate Thursday night shows how important New York voters are to the Democrats. Polls show Hillary leading in New York, which would be a big win, putting an end to Sanders winning streak. But a win by Sanders is sure to change the course of the election.
Microsoft vs. the Justice Department
What you need to know: Is the government trying to hack into another phone? No, but they can obtain warrants to read people’s emails without them knowing. The software giant is suing the U.S. Justice Department because it thinks not being allowed to tell customers when they’re being searched violates customer’s Fourth Amendment rights. Microsoft also feels the government is infringing on its First Amendment right to speak with its customers.
Not to rain on your parade, but the cloud era has made it easier for the government to conduct these secret investigations. These “secrecy orders” accompany an increasing number of government information warrants, and Microsoft is saying enough is enough.
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Why it matters: Microsoft is taking the position of hero in trying to protect the privacy of their customers, many of whom don’t know the legal process regarding email privacy. The fact that these orders are being used more and more frequently is a bit concerning. By making a case as a whole rather than one isolated instance, Microsoft is trying to address the bigger picture of privacy vs. national security. They’re working to get Congress involved too, meaning they’re not going to back down.
Obama and Game of Thrones
Just another perk to being Prez. Obama got special access to the sixth season of the HBO series, which doesn’t premiere till Sunday night. Guess we know what he was watching instead of the Democratic debate.
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