Politics Archives - Chris Stokes Blog

Kanye West “I Would Have Voted For Trump”

Kanye West has always been something of a provocateur and a nihilist, and is staunchly anti-political correctness.

Last night he stirred a maybe unprecedented level of controversy, however, declaring at a Saint Pablo Tour show in San Jose: “I would have voted on Trump”.

“This is my platform and I’m going to talk about the paradigm shift that’s happening right now,” he said at the top of a 40-minute political speech that came at the cost of several songs.

It’s hard to ascertain exactly the point he was trying to make as we only have tweets and videos from attendees, not a transcript, to go off, but it sounds as though he was mostly praising the disruptive nature of Trump’s campaign, which ‘inspired racists to reveal themselves’.

“Whether you voted for Hillary or Trump, this is a safe space for both of you,” he told the audience, asking any Trump voters to make themselves known. He also reiterated his desire to run for president in 2020, saying his focus would be on education and that his campaign would use a different political model.

“Stop focusing on racism,” he added, declaring sombrely: “We are in a racist country – period.” His stance stands in stark contrast to 2005 Kanye, who famously declared that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” in the wake of the devestating Hurricane Katrina.

The concert received an understandably mixed response.

Kanye was apparently happy when one woman screamed that she loved him in spite of his appreciation of Trump’s campaign, but there was also a lot of booing, stunned silence and even a few projectiles – one of which was a Yeezy shoe, which Kanye promptly signed and returned to the thrower.

U.S. Presence Is Absent In Paris Unity Rally

President Obama and his administration are under “heavy” criticism today after no one from the Administration was present at the Unity Rally held in Paris yesterday. The rally was held to show a universal solidarity following the shooting at satricial newspaper Charlie Hebdo in the French capital. Officials at the White House have said there were good reasons why there was no one from the administration in attendance.

Leaders from some of America’s strongest allies were among the more than 40 heads of state marching in solidarity with French President François Hollande. The group included German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were there.

In admitting their fault for not having a prominent official in attendance, the White House stated that the president’s attendance would have brought his security which would have significantly interfered with the crowd in attendance. But that didn’t really explain why there wasn’t any other high-ranking official representing the United States, including attorney general Eric Holder, who happened to be in Paris for counter-terrorism meetings.

However, one U.S. official was present at the rally: Ambassador to France Jane Hartley. Still to the chagrin of the world, no notable U.S. Official was there and that’s where the heavy criticism lies.

The president was quoted saying, “I want the people of France to know the United States stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow”.

The White House announced Sunday that Mr. Obama will hold a summit next month on ways to counter violent extremism like the attacks in France.

President Obama Looking To Impose Free Community College Program

“Put simply, what I’d like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who is willing to work for it,” the president said in his Facebook announcement.

Today President Obama proposed making community college free for all Americans. He presented the plan as a way to introduce more people to the middle class, which would in turn strengthen the U.S. economy. Congress has already presented the President with the question of how this program would be funded.

The $60 billion plan was announced during a speech in Tennessee, in where he described a quality education as a “right” for those that were willing to work for it. He also asked that Congress work with him to bring the cost of Community College down to zero.

Obama said, “I want to make it free.” He urged making community college just as universal as high school. “A college degree is the surest ticket to the middle class,” Obama said.

The proposed plan would cover enough tuition, to assist students who keep their grades up an associate’s degree or halfway to a bachelor’s.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the plan is expected to cost the federal government $60 billion over 10 years. The White House said the federal government would pick up 75 percent of the cost and the final quarter would come from states that opt into the program — though it’s unclear where the money might come from.

Last year, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed into law a scholarship program called Tennessee Promise that provides free community and technical college tuition for two years to the state’s high school graduates. About 58,000 of the state’s roughly 62,000 seniors have applied to participate this fall.

Under the president’s new plan, students would be required to maintain a 2.5 GPA while in college, and must make steady progress toward completing their program in order to have their tuition eliminated, according to the press release.

President Obama Hits North Korea With Several Sanctions After Sony Hack

President Obama’s Administration imposed a number of sanctions on North Korea today. The authorized sanctions are against agencies and officials associated with the North Korean government and Workers’ Party of Korea. This action serves as a retaliation against Pyongyang.

“We take seriously North Korea’s attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. “As the president has said, our response to North Korea’s attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment will be proportional, and will take place at a time and in a manner of our choosing. Today’s actions are the first aspect of our response.”

These sanctions will deny access to all those affected by these sanctions from the U.S. financial system and bar them from entering the U.S.

Although it hasn’t been confirmed that the North Koreans were 100% responsible for the Sony hack and some experts say that the attack could have been staged by ex-employees from the company, the Administration still feels that these sanctions are entirely necessary.