NASA unveils new space telescope

NASA’s new gold-covered telescope will put the Hubble to shame

4/28/16

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/04/28/nasas-new-gold-covered-telescope-will-put-the-hubble-to-shame/



NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has unveiled the James Webb Space Telescope. This new space telescope is a 14300 pound, $8.8 billion piece of hardware. This telescope has been in the works for more than two decades. This telescope is powerful enough to capture the heat signature of a bumblebee on the moon. This project, however impressive, has been fraught with controversy. Certain members of the United States Congress have tried to de-fund the project for years. Many do not see the inherent importance of this new technological and scientific advancement. In 2011 one of those attempts was even close to succeeding in killing this amazing thing. With the project falling behind schedule members of the House Appropriations Committee tried to take away it's funding in a 2011/2012 spending bill.


NASA is an administration that is part of the much larger Federal Bureaucracy. It's job is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research." This independent agency is given much leeway and discretionary authority within it's day to day operation. While congress still has to fund large projects pushed by the agency, much of it's operation is too complex for and specified for individual congresspeople to understand. This agency was given it's authorization legislation in 1958 to look forward and to push for scientific greatness. This is something the agency has accomplished, and continues to accomplish today
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President Obama Grant Clemency to More Individuals

President Obama Has Now Commuted the Sentences of 248 Individuals

3/31/16

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/03/30/president-obama-has-now-commuted-sentences-248-individuals

President Obama commuted the sentences of an additional 61 people, over a third of whom were serving life sentences. This brings the total of people he has commuted the sentences of to 248. This is greater than the previous six presidents combined. He has done this in a commitment to bringing about change in the criminal justice program. He hopes to commute the sentences of those who will make the most of their newfound freedom. The White House will also hold a briefing titled Life After Clemency. This briefing will help discuss the paths available to re-enter society.

This power that Obama has used is the power to grant clemency or to grant forgiveness for a crime. The president also has the power to grant reprieves, or delays the punishment for a crime, and pardons, forgiveness for a crime entirely. These powers are express powers of the presidency as enumerated in the Constitution. President Obama has been using these powers because the current political climate will not punish him for doing so. He believes, as do a majority of Americans, that the criminal justice system needs revising and changing to become fair. They agree that punishments are outdated and too harsh upon many Americans. This is not just a view of liberalism, this is a view of the American people as a whole.