Divided we stand, even in a subway ban

For those of you who are unaware, the United States of America is composed of not two, but four legislative houses: the Blue Party of the Senate, the Red Party of the Senate, the Blue Party of Congress, and the Red Party of Congress. It’s funny really, that every year, the President is extended an invitation to speak at the State of the Union, and every year, we hear this word “bipartisanship” spoken with such conviction, such patriotism, and such hope  and yet nothing changes and we are all left wondering if politicians really know what the word means.

Cue Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride:

With the threats of government shutdowns and countering presidential vetoes, even a nation that finds great entertainment with political rhetoric and disagreement is frustrated as proven with the transfer of power to the GOP in the 2014 Midterm Elections. According to Gallup article, nearly four out of five Americans see political gridlock as a major problem as they witness all talk and no action. Deliberation is justified but argument and disagreement for the sake of argument and disagreement is well, simply put, unjustified.

But keep in mind that politics are tough. They encompass deep history, sensitivity in moral stances, debate (more or less), irrelevant rhetoric (more or less), economics, time, and timing.  With the upcoming 2016 Presidential Election, candidates are scrambling to design the perfect platform to capture American votes. For many of us, 2016 will be the first major election we will participate in so with this blog, I hope to give some insight into what is to come so we can determine for ourselves, how divided, or united, our government really is.

And of course, who is deserving of our vote.

With each post, I will provide insight into any current events, its corresponding political discourse (because of course, there will always be some) and a look into important political figures and potential 2016 candidate (starting next post).

So prepare yourself as an industrial engineer reaches into the realms party politics.

BLIZZARD 2015

As all of you know (and have experienced), there has been a little bit of snow fall recently on the eastern coast.

Weather, as we also all know, can sometimes be so unpredictable, so naturally, the weatherman will occasionally get it all wrong, thus making that particular occupation, one of great public distrust. Yet, as unpredictable weather may be at times, it is a fairly technical problem. Call it a “Type 1” problem, if you will. One with high levels of agreement. Yet, with the ongoing discourse in New York City, it appears that this Type 1 issue, may have to be upgraded to a Type 3.

According to The Atlantic, there is political discourse even amongst the topic of weather. With weather channels promising “a blizzard of historic and catastrophic proportions” early this week, the people of New York City were expecting at least thirty inches of snow, therefore, understandably, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a city wide shut down at 11 p.m. Tuesday night and “made the unprecedented decision” to shut down the NYC subway system.

Unfortunately, what was done in the name of public safety turned into one of great public frustration as the people of New York woke up the next morning with only six inches of snow. In a clip from MSNBC’s All In WithChris Hayes, it is revealed that Mayor de Blasio received only a fifteen minute notice to the very first closure of nation’s largest subway system. “Are you freaking kidding me?”, say Hayes, maybe there is some lack of simple communication even in our state and local government? No deliberation? A complete “power” move?

According to a Time report, the recent snowstorm shutdown cost was likely over $500 million. Was the shutdown a bad call? Maybe a misleading hype made by the media? (Media presentation may be a whole other controversy on its own)

All in all, $500 million is a huge loss, but hey, in my opinion, better safe than sorry.