Filibustering in the senate

            A filibuster is one of the many tactics used in the United States senate in order to prevent a measure from being brought to a vote. This is used during a debate in order to sway the opinions of senate members as to gain votes to the side of which the person is filibustering for. The most common form of a filibuster is when a senator is attempting to delay or completely prevent a vote from on a bill and he or she does so by extending the debate. The senator is allowed to debate or talk about his or her stance on the issue for as long as he or she can continue to talk. There has even been instances where there are cots brought in for the senators to sleep on so that when one person is done filibustering the other senators can just jump right in and debate against the previous filibuster. In order to end a filibuster without the actual senator stopping by themselves there has to be a ¾ majority or 60 out of 100 senators vote to invoke cloture. In the past, filibustering has been used in the house of representatives as well as in the senate but revisions to the house rules limit debate, in the senate debate continued on the grounds that any senator had the right to debate as long as he or she wanted or felt necessary on any issue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_in_the_United_States_Senate
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Filibuster_Cloture.htm

Impeachment

The US Constitution states in Article 2, Section 4: "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

The current impeachment process is as follows:

Impeachment is started by members of the House of Representatives and are then turned over to the Judiciary Committee which then decides whether the allegations are worth being formally voted upon

The entire House votes for or against impeachment, needing majority for approval.

If approved, the Judiciary Committee has an investigation to see if there is enough evidence to impeach the President. The next step is to draft articles of impeachment based on charges supported by evidence.

If the Judiciary Committee sends any articles of impeachment, the house takes a vote and will win by majority.

If at least one of the articles of impeachment are approved then the president is considered impeached and the case is then sent to the senate.

The trial of the President is held in the Senate with the Chief Justice presiding. The President may have a lawyer or can represent him or herself.

The Senate may conduct the trial or the case may be given to another committee and in which case said committee would report all case evidence to the senate

The trial is held in a courtroom with the examination of witnesses. During questioning, Senators remain silent, all questions from the senate must be given directly to the chief justice in writing.

After all evidence and closing arguments have been gone through, the Senate decides behind closed doors and then proceeds to vote in open session. In order to convict the president the vote must be a two thirds majority, (67 senators). In this case, the President is removed from office and then the vice president becomes president. The decision is final and there is no right of appeal.

In United States history there has technically only been 2 presintial impeachments. Although some people belive there has been 3, Nixon technically was never impeached. He resigned and was then given a pardon for the crimes he commited (Watergate scandal)

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments

/http://www.historynet.com/were-u-s-presidents-johnson-nixon-and-clinton-impeached.htm 

Media and US politics

The way technology has changed over the past 10 years is very influential to politics in more ways than one.  first, now you can choose the news that you are hearing or watching. Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, recently said, “With the Internet, with YouTube, with TiVo, with cable TV, people are selective viewers now. . . . People approach their news consumption the way they approach their iPod: You download the songs you like and listen to them when you want to listen to them.” With people being able to choose what they watch and when they watch it, it gives people who are campaigning a disadvantage because people don’t have to listen to what they have to say if they don’t want to.  second, by sharing via social media sites. A good example of this is when President Obama announced that he was running for office on a web video and announced his vice present by text message. third, by people being able to like or dislike things on web pages they give politicians a general idea of how the public feels about a certain issue, which helps candidates campaign in a better way to win support. Lastly, internet fundraising has been a very influential strategy used by many politicians such as John McCain, Ron Paul, Barack Obama, and Scott Brown. President Obama raised hundreds of millions from online fundraising throughout his presidential campaign.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/slideshows/5-ways-new-media-are-changing-politics