Deriving Key Messages from Sources on Politics

Topic: Government
Words: 602 Pages: 2

In the first source (Gitmo and the Rule of Law by Robyn Blumner), the key message is the continued abuse of constitutional powers vested in the presidency by imprisoning individuals accused of terrorism against the US and its interests worldwide without trial. The US laws and Constitution bar the authorities from holding anybody suspected of any crime without trial. Nevertheless, President George W. Bush used Guantanamo Bay prison to hold without trial individuals accused of terrorism, something that violates the laws. The writer states that the Obama administration has not improved the situation because 166 men are still imprisoned at the facility without trial.

At the time the article was written, Obama was seeking reelection in the 2014 general elections, and many opponents were citing his inability to end the Guantanamo Bay detention as a continuation of the wrongs done by his predecessor. The author feels that the US government intentionally violates the rights of people as provided under the Constitution through the powers vested in the presidency. In essence, people are not completely free as long as the presidency bears the excessive powers that should be shared with other arms of the government.

The second source (People Willing to Endure What the Tamils Did Are Just the Kind We Want by Andrew Coyne) discusses the state and process of immigration to Canada from other countries worldwide. Specifically, the source argues that the arrival of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka was not a special phenomenon, given that they openly disembarked from a ship without hiding as they entered the country.

Even though the authorities know that most people seeking to live in Canada are economic immigrants, they tend to ignore the reality because they use conventional methods such as planes and do not come as a large group. In the case of the Tamils from Sri Lanka, the difference is that they paid huge amounts to the shipping company transporting them to Canada and came as a large group. Because of the rare method used, the authorities seem to be concerned, terming the process a case of human trafficking. However, the individuals did it out of their own will and even paid for the relocation. The author argues that Canada should apply the same standards of tests to all immigrants, regardless of the manner of arrival to Canada from other nations. The source by Bennett and Rothrock discusses the expansion of the use of nuclear power years after the Chornobyl disaster in 1986.

In this article, the authors argue that nations like the US and others should accept nuclear power because disasters are rare. Few disasters have occurred involving nuclear power plants across the world, which means that the source is still safe. The author argues that nuclear power is a clean source of energy that will help the world reduce the use of coal, petroleum, and other non-renewable and carbon-emitting sources, an idea that will curb climate change. If nuclear power, along with wind, ocean, hydroelectric, and other green sources, are exploited, it is possible to reduce the dependence on coal, petroleum, and other sources that pollute the environment and release excessive greenhouse gases.

David Olive’s article argues that bitcoin activities around the globe increase energy use from sources that emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, thus accelerating climate change and global warming. The author states that Bitcoin activities require excessive energy to drive the servers and computers involved in the process. The key message is that the use of Bitcoin needs to be regulated and controlled to ensure that it does not accelerate the global warming and climate change phenomena.