query: Colin Powell was the first African American Secretary of State.

pos: Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( -LSB- ˈkoʊlᵻn -RSB- born April 5 , 1937 ) is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army . Powell was born in Harlem as the son of Jamaican immigrants . During his military career , Powell also served as National Security Advisor ( 1987 -- 1989 ) , as Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command ( 1989 ) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( 1989 -- 1993 ) , holding the latter position during the Persian Gulf War . Powell was the first , and so far the only , African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff . He was the 65th United States Secretary of State , serving under U.S. President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005 , the first African American to serve in that position .   Powell was born in New York City in 1937 and was raised in the South Bronx . His parents , Luther and Maud Powell , immigrated to the United States from Jamaica . Powell was educated in the New York City public schools , graduating from the City College of New York ( CCNY ) , where he earned a bachelor 's degree in geology . He also participated in ROTC at CCNY and received a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon graduation in June 1958 . His further academic achievements include a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University .   Powell was a professional soldier for 35 years , during which time he held myriad command and staff positions and rose to the rank of 4-star General . His last assignment , from October 1 , 1989 to September 30 , 1993 , was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , the highest military position in the Department of Defense . During this time , he oversaw 28 crises , including Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War . He also formulated the Powell Doctrine .   Following his military retirement , Powell wrote his best-selling autobiography , My American Journey . In addition , he pursued a career as a public speaker , addressing audiences across the country and abroad . Prior to his appointment as Secretary of State , Powell was the chairman of America 's Promise - The Alliance for Youth , a national nonprofit organization dedicated to mobilizing people from every sector of American life to build the character and competence of young people . He was nominated by President Bush on December 16 , 2000 as Secretary of State . After being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate , he was sworn in as the 65th Secretary of State on January 20 , 2001 .   Powell is the recipient of numerous U.S. and foreign military awards and decorations . Powell 's civilian awards include two Presidential Medal of Freedom , the President 's Citizens Medal , the Congressional Gold Medal , the Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal , and the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal . Several schools and other institutions have been named in his honor and he holds honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country . Powell is married to the former Alma Vivian Johnson of Birmingham , Alabama . The Powell family includes son Michael ( ex-chairman of the Federal Communications Commission ) ; daughters Linda and Anne ; daughter-in-law Jane ; and grandsons Jeffrey and Bryan .   In 2016 , while not a candidate for that year 's election , Powell received three electoral votes for the office of President of the United States .

neg: Benny Powell Benny Powell ( March 1 , 1930 -- June 26 , 2010 ) was an African-American jazz trombonist . He played both standard ( tenor ) trombone and bass trombone .

neg: American Committee on United Europe The American Committee on United Europe ( ACUE ) , founded in 1948 , was an American organization which sought to counter the Communist threat in Europe by promoting European political integration . Its first chairman was ex-wartime OSS head William Joseph Donovan .  The vice-chairman was Allen Dulles . A board member was Walter Bedell Smith .   The structure of the organisation was outlined in early summer of 1948 by Donovan and Allen Welsh Dulles by then also reviewing the organization of the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) . in response to assistance requests by Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi and Winston Churchill .   Declassified American government documents have shown that the ACUE was an important early funder of both the European Movement and the European Youth Campaign . The ACUE itself received funding from the Rockefeller and Ford foundations .   The U.S. policy was to promote a United States of Europe , and to this end the committee was used to discreetly funnel CIA funds - by the mid 50 's ACUE was receiving roughly $ 1,000,000 USD per year - to European pro-federalists supporting such organizations as the Council of Europe , the European Coal and Steel Community , and the proposed European Defence Community .   The end of an article appearing in The Daily Telegraph in September 2000 noted that : `` The State Department also played a role . A memo from the European section , dated June 11 , 1965 , advises the vice-president of the European Economic Community , Robert Marjolin , to pursue monetary union by stealth . It recommends suppressing debate until the point at which `` adoption of such proposals would become virtually inescapable '' . ''

neg: Bureau of Public Affairs The Bureau of Public Affairs ( PA ) is the part of the United States Department of State that carries out the Secretary of State 's mandate to help Americans understand the importance of foreign policy . The Bureau is led by the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs .   The PA Bureau pursues the State Department 's mission to inform the American people and to feed their concerns and comments back to the policymakers . It accomplishes this in a variety of ways , which include :  Strategic and tactical planning to advance the Administration 's priority foreign policy goals ;  Conducting press briefings for domestic and foreign press corps ;  Pursuing media outreach , enabling Americans everywhere to hear directly from key Department officials through local , regional and national media interviews ;  Managing the State Department 's websites and developing web pages with up-to-date information about U.S. foreign policy ;  Answering questions from the public about current foreign policy issues by phone , email , or letter ;  Arranging town meetings and scheduling speakers to visit communities to discuss U.S. foreign policy and why it is important to all Americans ;  Producing and coordinating audio-visual products and services in the U.S. and abroad for the public , the press , the Secretary of State , and Department bureaus and offices ;  Preparing historical studies on U.S. diplomacy and foreign affairs matters .

neg: Counselor of the United States Department of State The Counselor of the United States Department of State is a position within the United States Department of State that serves the Secretary of State as a special advisor and consultant on major problems of foreign policy and who provides guidance to the appropriate bureaus with respect to such matters . The Counselor conducts special international negotiations and consultations , and also undertakes special assignments from time to time , as directed by the Secretary . Currently , the Counselor holds under law a rank equivalent to that of Under Secretary of State .   The Secretary of State created the position of Counselor for the Department of State in 1909 as part of a general Department reorganization . In 1912 , the position became a Presidential appointment . Between 1913 and 1919 , the Counselor served as the Department 's second-ranking officer , assuming the role previously exercised by the Assistant Secretary of State . In 1919 , the newly created position of Under Secretary of State subsumed the duties of the Counselor . An Act of Congress , May 18 , 1937 , re-established the position of Counselor of the Department of State . Between 1961 and 1965 , the Counselor also served as the Chairman of the Policy Planning Council . On April 30 , 1994 , the title was changed to Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs when Counselor Timothy E. Wirth was appointed to that position , but another Counselor was appointed in 1997 .   The most recent Counselor was Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney , who served from February 12 , 2016 to February 17 , 2017 .

neg: Harry S Truman Building The Harry S Truman Building is the headquarters of the United States Department of State . It is located in the national capital , Washington , D.C.   The Truman Building is located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood at 2201 C Street , NW , bounded by C Street to the south , E Street , D Street , and Virginia Avenue to the north , 21st Street to the east , and 23rd Street to the west . It is located to the west of Edward J. Kelly Park and north of the National Academy of Sciences building and the National Mall .   The Truman Building houses the office of the United States Secretary of State .

neg: Ralph Randolph Gurley Ralph Randolph Gurley ( May 26 , 1797 -- July 30 , 1872 ) was a clergyman , an advocate of the separation of the races and a major force in the American Colonization Society , which offered passage to their colony in west Africa ( now Liberia ) , to free black Americans .   He was born in Lebanon , Connecticut , and graduated from Yale College , B.A. in 1818 . He moved to Washington , D.C. and was licensed to preach as a Presbyterian , but was never ordained . Nevertheless , he served as Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives for the 21st and 22nd Congresses and again for the 30th and 31st , opening each day 's proceedings with a prayer . From 1822 till 1872 he acted as the agent and secretary of the American Colonization Society . In the will of ex-President James Madison , $ 2000 was bequeathed through Gurley to the Society . Gurley visited Africa three times in the Society 's interests , and was one of the founders of Liberia , which he named . He also went to England to solicit aid in the work of colonization , always expressing the highest motives :  How should Virginians universally rejoice in the great evidences of Civilization growing & expanding on the west coast of Africa , through civilized Africans sent forth from their homes ! ( letter , November 4 , 1857 )   During the first ten years of his agency the annual income of the society increased from $ 778 to $ 40,000 . He travelled widely to deliver addresses in its behalf , edited its public-relations organ The African Repository and Colonial Journal and wrote a Life of Jehudi Ashmun ( 1835 ) , a secretary of the Society , reported his Mission to England for the American Colonization Society ( 1841 ) and an encomium , the Life and Eloquence of Reverend Sylvester Larned ( 1844 ) .   In his biography of Ashmun ( 1835 ) , Gurley wrote  The friends of African Colonization have thought , that the consent of the South was indispensable for the safe abolition of slavery ; that the work should be done with caution and preparation ; that circumstances and consequences should be regarded ; that a separation of races so distinct as the coloured and white in complexion , habits and condition is desirable for the happiness of both .

neg: 1960 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference The 1960 Commonwealth Prime Ministers ' Conference was the tenth Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations . It was held in the United Kingdom in May 1960 , and was hosted by that country 's Prime Minister , Harold Macmillan .   This was the first Commonwealth conference since Malayan independence in August 1957 and saw the growing importance of the non-white `` New Commonwealth '' countries . Malaya 's prime minister , Tunku Abdul Rahman and his government vigorously opposed the apartheid policies of South Africa and , with the support of Pakistan , India and Ghana , demanded that the issue be addressed by the Commonwealth . However , Macmillan insisted that the final communique could only include matters on which the leaders were unanimous . Ghana advised the meeting that it would be becoming a republic and South Africa advised that it would be holding a referendum on the issue . Ghana was advised that its continued membership in the Commonwealth as a republic was recognised , however , South Africa was advised that it would need to seek consent of other Commonwealth governments for its membership to continue .

neg: Rivers of Blood speech On 20 April 1968 , British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell addressed a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham , UK . His speech strongly criticised Commonwealth immigration to the United Kingdom and the then-proposed Race Relations Bill , and became known as the `` Rivers of Blood '' speech , although Powell always referred to it as `` the Birmingham speech '' . The expression `` rivers of blood '' , which did not appear in the original speech , is an allusion to a line from Virgil 's Aeneid quoted by Powell ( `` As I look ahead , I am filled with foreboding ; like the Roman , I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood '' ) .   The speech caused a political storm , making Powell one of the most talked about , and divisive , politicians in the country , and leading to his controversial dismissal from the Shadow Cabinet by Conservative Party leader Edward Heath . According to most accounts , the popularity of Powell 's perspective on immigration may have played a decisive contributory factor in the Conservatives ' surprise victory in the 1970 general election , and he became one of the most persistent rebels opposing the subsequent Heath government .

neg: John Wesley Dobbs John Wesley Dobbs ( March 26 , 1882 -- August 30 , 1961 ) , an African-American civic and political leader , was often referred to as unofficial `` mayor '' of Auburn Avenue in Atlanta , Georgia .   Dobbs , educated at Atlanta Baptist College ( which later became Morehouse College ) , passed a civil service exam and became a railway mail clerk for the Post Office in 1903 , a position he held for 32 years . Dobbs married Irene Ophelia Thompson in 1906 , and they had six daughters , all of whom graduated from Spelman College . One daughter , Mattiwilda Dobbs , became a notable opera singer while another daughter , Ophelia Josephine Dobbs Clement was on the city board of education in Durham , NC where she led integration and discussions about race . Dobbs became a member of the Prince Hall Masons in 1911 . In 1932 , he was elected Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons ( a post he held for the rest of his life ) .   Believing that enfranchisement was the key to overcoming segregation , Dobbs started a voter registration drive in 1936 with a goal of registering 10,000 voters . That year , Dobbs founded the Atlanta Civic and Political League , and in 1946 along with A.T. Walden , he co-founded the Atlanta Negro Voters League . During the 1930s and 1940s , laws keeping blacks from voting were found to be unconstitutional . Between 1936 and 1946 , 20,000 African-American voters were registered in Atlanta . With the power of the black vote behind him , Dobbs convinced Atlanta mayor William B. Hartsfield to integrate Atlanta 's police force in 1948 and install gas lights along Auburn Avenue in 1949 .   In 1948 , Dobbs accompanied Ray Sprigle , a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , when the reporter disguised himself as a black man and traveled in the South . The 21-part syndicated newspaper series entitled I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days was later released as the book , In the Land of Jim Crow .   John Wesley Dobbs died on August 30 , 1961 , aged 79 , the same week the Atlanta city schools desegregated . His family home still stands at 540 John Wesley Dobbs Avenue ( formerly Houston Street ) .   Houston Street was renamed in Dobbs 's honor by Maynard Jackson in 1994 . Jackson , the first African-American mayor of Atlanta , was Dobbs ' grandson . A statue of Dobbs , erected in 1996 , stands along Auburn Avenue .

neg: 1952 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Economic Conference The 1952 Commonwealth Prime Ministers ' Economic Conference was an emergency Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations . It was called by the British government of Sir Winston Churchill and held in the United Kingdom in December 1952 as a follow-up to a Commonwealth Finance Minister 's conference held in January 1952 . The conference was held in the context of British economic and military decline and the United States ' surging role in the world .   The principal topic of the conference was the convertibility and liquidity of Pound sterling into American dollars and British concerns that non-sterling Commonwealth countries were building up sterling balances for the purpose of conversion into American dollars , the future of the Pound sterling area , and the alleviation of Commonwealth trade restrictions and imperial preference , particularly in the light of the surging American economy and the desire of Commonwealth countries such as Australia for American investment in order for economic development to occur against British concerns that American economic dominance threatened Britain 's economic position . This discussion was necessary as the Commonwealth , with the exception of Canada , had a common pool of gold and dollar reserves . Little was accomplished in the economic discussion with the final communique being described as an `` agreement in platitudes '' .   British concerns at being excluded from the ANZUS military treaty between Australia , New Zealand and the United States were also a topic and were addressed by a communique issued by the prime ministers supporting Britain 's demand for a voice in ANZUS .   In addition , Commonwealth prime ministers , after months of discussion on whether the newly ascended Queen Elizabeth II should have a uniform Royal Styles and Titles throughout the Commonwealth or whether realms should adopt their own styles and titles , it was agreed that each member of the Commonwealth `` should use for its own purposes a form of the Royal Style and Titles which suits its own particular circumstances but retains a substantial element which is common to all '' and agreed to pass appropriate legislation in their respective parliaments . The prime ministers also agreed to proclaim the new Queen , Elizabeth II , Head of the Commonwealth in succession of her late father , George VI .

neg: Elizabeth Littlefield Elizabeth L. Littlefield was the President and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation ( OPIC ) , the U.S. Government 's development finance agency . She was nominated to the Under Secretary-level position by President Barack Obama on November 19 , 2009 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 24 , 2010 . She was sworn into office on October 1 , 2010 by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton .   During her tenure at OPIC , Littlefield emphasized the development role and contributions of the Agency . Investments increased markedly in Sub-Saharan Africa ( 250 percent from 2009 to 2015 ) , in renewable resources , and microfinance , which topped $ 1 billion in 2016 . The Agency also launched or expanded several impact investing initiatives to engage a wider range of socially responsible enterprises and co-investors in the developing nations . OPIC 's financing for private sector project is central to President Obama 's signature Power Africa initiative , and in 2015 the Agency achieved its first-stage Power Africa target of $ 1.5 billion in financing .   Littlefield was appointed by President Obama to serve as a member of the White House Global Development Council and the President 's Export Council . She was presented in 2012 with the U.S. State Department 's Distinguished Service Award , the highest award in the Foreign Service , by then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton .

neg: Kenneth L. Brown Kenneth Lee Brown ( born December 6 , 1936 ) was a U.S. ambassador to Ghana , Cote d'Ivoire , and Congo-Brazzaville . As a career Foreign Service Officer from 1961 to 1995 , he served at the American Embassy in Brussels and six posts in Africa . At the Department of State he held the positions of Deputy Director of UN Political Affairs , Associate Spokesman , Director of Central African Affairs , and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa .   Brown was nominated as ambassador to Congo in November 1981 by President Ronald Reagan . He was later chosen as ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire in August 1989 and as ambassador to Ghana in June 1992 , both times by President George H. W. Bush .   In May 2001 , he became President of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training , an NGO that promotes understanding of American diplomacy , supports training of US foreign affairs personnel , and conducts oral histories of former Foreign Service officers and ambassadors as part of the Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection at the Library of Congress .   After leaving the Foreign Service , Ambassador Brown became Director of the Dean Rusk Program in International Studies at Davidson College from 1995 to 2001 . He has a BA in International Relations from Pomona College , an MA in International Relations from Yale University , an MA in Political Science from New York University , and a Ph.D. in Political Sociology from Cape Coast University in Ghana .

neg: Condoleezza Rice's tenure as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice served as United States Secretary of State under George W. Bush . She was preceded by Colin Powell and followed by Hillary Clinton . As secretary of state she traveled widely and initiated many diplomatic efforts on behalf of the Bush administration .

neg: Country of Particular Concern Country of Particular Concern ( CPC ) is a designation by the United States Secretary of State ( under authority delegated by the President ) of a nation guilty of particularly severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act ( IRFA ) of 1998 ( H.R. 2431 ) and its amendment of 1999 ( Public Law 106-55 ) . The term `` particularly severe violations of religious freedom '' means systematic , ongoing , egregious violations of religious freedom , including violations such as :   a ) Torture or cruel , inhuman , or degrading treatment or punishment ;  b ) Prolonged detention without charges ;  c ) Causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons ; or  d ) Other flagrant denials of the right to life , liberty , or the security of persons . Nations so designated are subject to further actions , including economic sanctions , by the United States .   Issuing recommendations as to countries it believes should be designated as countries of particular concern for their religious liberty violations is the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom , a separate agency created by IRFA ( along with the U.S. Department of State 's Office of International Religious Freedom ) to monitor the state of religious freedom around the world . Both entities provide policy recommendations to the president , the secretary of state and US Congress . Its recommendations are not always followed by the Secretary of State .   The latest report from February 29 , 2016 , designated each of the following nations as a CPC :   Each of these states was included on the previous year 's report except Tajikistan .

neg: Presidency of John F. Kennedy The presidency of John F. Kennedy began on January 20 , 1961 , when he was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States , and ended on November 22 , 1963 , upon his assassination and death , a span of days . A Democrat , he took office following the 1960 presidential election , in which he narrowly defeated Richard Nixon . He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson .   Kennedy was the first person born in the 20th century to be elected president , and , at age 43 , the youngest person elected to the office . He was also the first Roman Catholic elected to the presidency . Kennedy played an important role in bringing American politics into the modern communications age , as his use of television provided a campaign model that spoke to voters directly , and his media presidency greatly weakened the power of political machines in party politics .   Kennedy 's time in office was marked by Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union and especially with Cuba . In Cuba , a failed attempt was made in April 1961 at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro . Kennedy 's administration subsequently rejected plans by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to orchestrate false-flag attacks on American soil in order to gain public approval for a war against Cuba . In October 1962 , it was discovered that Soviet ballistic missiles had been deployed in Cuba ; the resulting period of unease , termed the Cuban Missile Crisis , is seen by many historians as the closest the human race has ever come to nuclear war between nuclear-armed belligerents .   To contain Communist expansion in Asia , Kennedy increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam by a factor of 18 over his predecessor , Dwight D. Eisenhower ; a further escalation of the American role in the Vietnam War took place after Kennedy 's death . In domestic politics Kennedy made bold proposals in his New Frontier agenda , but few were passed by Congress . He did establish of the Peace Corps , and intensify the Space Race . Kennedy took steps to support the Civil Rights Movement , and after his death his proposed civil rights bill was passed as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

neg: Thelma Dale Perkins Thelma Dale Perkins ( 1915-2014 ) was an African-American activist . Her maternal uncle was Frederick Douglass Patterson . She joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority , the Liberal Club , which `` advocated for the integration of African Americans '' into the greater society , the Southern Negro Youth Congress , and the American Youth Congress . As a member of the American Youth Congress she went to the White House for `` chats '' sponsored by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to discuss the issues facing young people . She graduated from Howard University in 1936 . She worked for E. Franklin Frasier on a National Youth Administration Fellowship , and worked for the federal government , but as she recalled , `` I resigned from the government rather than sign a loyalty oath and accepted the job of National Secretary of the National Negro Congress in New York City . '' In 1945 she attended the founding meeting of the Women 's International Democratic Federation , held in Paris .   She was friends with Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda Robeson , and worked as managing editor for  Paul 's Freedom newspaper , and was involved in a campaign to get his passport restored . She wrote a tribute to Paul Robeson in the book Paul Robeson : The Great Forerunner ( 1998 ) , by the editors of Freedomways . She was a manager of community relations for CIBA-GEIGY Corporation , where she initiated and developed the `` Exceptional Black Scientist '' series , which was nationally recognized .   She married Lawrence Rickman Perkins Jr. , in 1957 , and adopted two babies , Lawrence Dale Perkins and Patrice Dale Perkins .   In the Dale/Patterson Family papers in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives there is a small collection related to her , donated by her niece Dianne Dale .

neg: GLIFAA GLIFAA ( formerly Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies ) is the officially recognized organization representing lesbian , gay , bisexual and transgender etc. ( LGBT + ) personnel and their families in the United States Department of State , U.S. Agency for International Development ( USAID ) , Foreign Commercial Service , Foreign Agricultural Service , and other agencies and entities working in foreign affairs in the U.S. Government . The acronym comes from its original name , Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies . As of 2014 , the organization goes by GLIFAA and uses the slogan `` LGBT + pride in foreign affairs agencies '' to underscore its inclusive composition . GLIFAA was founded in 1992 by fewer than a dozen employees who faced official harassment and potential loss of their jobs simply because of their sexual orientation . The organization has grown to hundreds of Foreign Service , Civil Service , and contract personnel and their families serving in Washington , throughout the U.S. , and at U.S. embassies and missions around the world . Members also include retirees and straight allies in government agencies , while other supporters are affiliate members .   Among other accomplishments , GLIFAA succeeded in pressing for the issuance of a non-discrimination policy by Secretary of State Warren Christopher in 1993 , and worked with the U.S. Administration , the management of government agencies , and other employee associations to eliminate barriers for obtaining security clearances and create and implement non-discrimination policies with regard to entry and employment in the U.S. Foreign Service and Civil Service . In addition , the organization worked to improve the situation for the partners of LGBT U.S. Foreign Service personnel serving overseas . GLIFAA met with Secretaries of State Colin Powell , Condoleezza Rice , and Hillary Clinton .

neg: The National Office for Black Catholics The National Office for Black Catholics ( NOBC ) was an organization of Black Catholics in the United States , headquartered in Washington , DC . Its mission was `` to make the Church relevant to the needs of the black community ; to assist generally in the black liberation movement ; to assist black Catholics in their efforts to become self-determining ; and to become an effective voice in the whole of Church government . ''   NOBC was founded in 1970 , as an umbrella group for the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus ( NBCCC ) , the National Black Sisters Conference ( NBSC ) , and the National Black Lay Catholic Caucus ( NBLCC ) . However , tension over the mission and organizational structure of the organization led to the formal withdrawal of the NBSC and NBCCC from NOBC in the early 1980s . Funding for the NOBC came primarily from an annual collection taken at Catholic churches around the country , called `` Black Catholics Concerned . ''   NOBC undertook a variety of programs in the 1970s and 1980s . Its major departments included the Office of Culture and Worship , Office of Evangelization , Department of Church Vocations , and Education Department . The organization 's work included promoting black clerical leadership , supporting the development of African-rooted liturgy and ministries , contributing to the revitalization of black parishes , and strengthening black Catholic education . The organization also worked with the American Catholic hierarchy to bring issues around race to the forefront and participated in the 1976 `` Call to Action '' conference held by the U.S. bishops .   NOBC sponsored many conferences and events throughout the 1970s and 1980s . Among its most successful events was a regular conference on African American Culture and Worship ( AACW ) . Beginning in 1980 , it also hosted a biennial conference for the organization 's members . In 1988 and 1989 , NOBC and NBLCC hosted two Lay Leadership symposiums in Belleville , Illinois . The Office of Evangelization also sponsored revival events throughout the country .   The NOBC 's publications included its newsletter , Impact ! , as well as Freeing the Spirit , a newsletter of the Office of Culture and Worship . Freeing the Spirit ceased publication in 1983 , but Impact ! continued sporadic publication through the 1980s .   Executive directors of the NOBC included : Br . Joseph Davis , SM ( 1970-1977 ) , Fr . Cyprian Lamar Rowe , SSF ( 1978-1980 ) , James Henderson ( 1981-1987 ) , Penelope Taylor Powell ( 1978 -LSB- acting director -RSB- , 1987-1988 ) , and Walter Hubbard ( 1988-c . 2000 ) .   Although the NOBC continued its activity through the 1990s and early 2000s , its level of activity seems to have decreased .

neg: We Charge Genocide We Charge Genocide : The Crime of Government Against the Negro People is a paper accusing the United States government of genocide based on the UN Genocide Convention . This paper was written by the Civil Rights Congress ( CRC ) and presented to the United Nations at meetings in Paris in December 1951 .   The document pointed out that the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide defined genocide as any acts committed with `` intent to destroy '' a group , `` in whole or in part . '' To build its case for black genocide , the document cited many instances of lynching in the United States , as well as legal discrimination , disenfranchisement of blacks in the South , a series of incidents of police brutality dating to the present , and systematic inequalities in health and quality of life . The central argument : the US government is both complicit with and responsible for a genocidal situation based on the UN 's own definition of genocide .   The document received international media attention and became caught up in Cold War politics , as the CRC was supported by the American Communist Party . Its many examples of shocking conditions for African Americans shaped beliefs about the United States in countries across the world . The American government and white press accused the CRC of exaggerating racial inequality in order to advance the cause of Communism . The US State Department forced CRC secretary William L. Patterson to surrender his passport after he presented the petition to a UN meeting in Paris .

neg: Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence The Unilateral Declaration of Independence ( UDI ) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965 , announcing that Rhodesia , a British territory in southern Africa that had governed itself since 1923 , now regarded itself as an independent sovereign state . The culmination of a protracted dispute between the British and Rhodesian governments regarding the terms under which the latter could become fully independent , it was the first unilateral break from the United Kingdom by one of its colonies since the United States Declaration of Independence nearly two centuries before . Britain , the Commonwealth and the United Nations all deemed Rhodesia 's UDI illegal , and economic sanctions , the first in the UN 's history , were imposed on the breakaway colony . Amid near-complete international isolation , Rhodesia continued as an unrecognised state with the assistance of South Africa and Portugal .   The Rhodesian government , which mostly comprised members of the country 's white minority of about 5 % , was indignant when , amid decolonisation and the Wind of Change , less developed African colonies to the north without comparable experience of self-rule quickly advanced to independence during the early 1960s while Rhodesia was refused sovereignty under the newly ascendant principle of `` no independence before majority rule '' ( `` NIBMAR '' ) . Most white Rhodesians felt that they were due independence following four decades ' self-government , and that Britain was betraying them by withholding it . This combined with the colonial government 's acute reluctance to hand over power to black nationalists -- the manifestation of racial tensions , Cold War anti-communism and the fear that a dystopian Congo-style situation might result -- to create the impression that if Britain did not grant independence , Rhodesia might be justified in taking it unilaterally .   Stalemate developed between the British and Rhodesian Prime Ministers , Harold Wilson and Ian Smith respectively , between 1964 and 1965 . Dispute largely surrounded the British condition that the terms for independence had to be acceptable `` to the people of the country as a whole '' ; Smith contended that this was met , while Britain and black nationalist leaders in Rhodesia held that it was not . After Wilson proposed in late October 1965 that Britain might safeguard future black representation in the Rhodesian parliament by withdrawing some of the colonial government 's devolved powers , then presented terms for an investigatory Royal Commission that the Rhodesians found unacceptable , Smith and his Cabinet declared independence . Calling this treasonous , the British colonial Governor Sir Humphrey Gibbs formally dismissed Smith and his government , but they ignored him and appointed an `` Officer Administering the Government '' to take his place .   While no country recognised UDI , the Rhodesian High Court deemed the post-UDI government legal and de jure in 1968 . The Smith administration initially professed continued loyalty to Queen Elizabeth II , but abandoned this in 1970 when it declared a republic in an unsuccessful attempt to win foreign recognition . The Rhodesian Bush War , a guerrilla conflict between the government and two rival communist-backed black nationalist groups , began in earnest two years later , and after several attempts to end the war Smith agreed the Internal Settlement with non-militant nationalists in 1978 . Under these terms the country was reconstituted under black rule as Zimbabwe Rhodesia in June 1979 , but this new order was rejected by the guerrillas and the international community . The Bush War continued until Zimbabwe Rhodesia revoked UDI as part of the Lancaster House Agreement in December 1979 . Following a brief period of direct British rule , the country was granted internationally recognised independence under the name Zimbabwe in 1980 .


query: Twitter had millions of tweets during an election.

pos: Twitter Twitter ( -LSB- ˈtwɪtər -RSB- ) is an online news and social networking service where users post and interact with messages , `` tweets '' , restricted to 140 characters . Registered users can post tweets , but those who are unregistered can only read them . Users access Twitter through its website interface , SMS or a mobile device app . Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco , California , United States , and has more than 25 offices around the world .   Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey , Noah Glass , Biz Stone , and Evan Williams and launched in July . The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity . In 2012 , more than 100 million users posted 340 million tweets a day , and the service handled an average of 1.6 billion search queries per day . In 2013 , it was one of the ten most-visited websites and has been described as `` the SMS of the Internet '' . As of 2016 , Twitter had more than 319 million monthly active users . On the day of the 2016 U.S. presidential election , Twitter proved to be the largest source of breaking news , with 40 million election-related tweets sent by 10 p.m. ( Eastern Time ) that day .

neg: Total Information Awareness Total Information Awareness ( TIA ) was a program of the United States Information Awareness Office that began during the 2003 fiscal year . It operated under this title from February until May 2003 , before being renamed as the Terrorism Information Awareness .   Based on the concept of predictive policing , TIA aimed to gather detailed information about individuals in order to anticipate and prevent crimes before they are committed . As part of efforts to win the War on Terror , the program searched for all sorts of personal information in the hunt for terrorists around the globe . Admiral John Poindexter referred to it as a `` Manhattan Project for Counter-Terrorism '' . According to Senator Ron Wyden ( D-Ore . ) , TIA was the `` biggest surveillance program in the history of the United States '' .   The program was defunded alongside the Information Awareness Office in late 2003 by the United States Congress after media reports criticized the government for attempting to establish `` Total Information Awareness '' over all citizens .   Although the program was formally suspended , its data mining software was later adopted by other government agencies , with only superficial changes being made . The core architecture of TIA continued development under the code name `` Basketball . '' According to a 2012 New York Times article , the legacy of Total Information Awareness is `` quietly thriving '' at the National Security Agency ( NSA ) .

neg: Facebook diplomacy The term Facebook diplomacy was coined sometime in October 2008 in casual notes exchanged on Twitter , in connection to U.S. President Barack Obama 's electoral political campaign 's keen use of Facebook and other social network websites . The term Facebook diplomacy was further introduced and elaborated to describe the potential ` soft power ' that can be created with Internet social networking tools like Facebook to counter terrorism , and interfere with repressive governments and militant groups in a discussion at a social networking and technology conference in December 2008 in New York .   During the December conference in New York , the United States Undersecretary of Public Diplomacy , James Glassman said , `` New technology gives the United States and other free nations a significant advantage over terrorists . '' In his presentation at New York 's Columbia University Law School , he went on to illustrate how Facebook diplomacy and on-line activism created success through the use of Facebook groups and the use of the platform to create activism and cause global awareness relative to issues in Colombia against the infamous FARC rebels .

neg: Election An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office . Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated since the 17th century . Elections may fill offices in the legislature , sometimes in the executive and judiciary , and for regional and local government . This process is also used in many other private and business organizations , from clubs to voluntary associations and corporations .   The universal use of elections as a tool for selecting representatives in modern representative democracies is in contrast with the practice in the democratic archetype , ancient Athens , where the Elections were considered an oligarchic institution and most political offices were filled using sortition , also known as allotment , by which officeholders were chosen by lot .   Electoral reform describes the process of introducing fair electoral systems where they are not in place , or improving the fairness or effectiveness of existing systems . Psephology is the study of results and other statistics relating to elections ( especially with a view to predicting future results ) .   To elect means `` to choose or make a decision '' , and so sometimes other forms of ballot such as referendums are referred to as elections , especially in the United States .

neg: Computational sociology Computational sociology is a branch of sociology that uses computationally intensive methods to analyze and model social phenomena . Using computer simulations , artificial intelligence , complex statistical methods , and analytic approaches like social network analysis , computational sociology develops and tests theories of complex social processes through bottom-up modeling of social interactions .   It involves the understanding of social agents , the interaction among these agents , and the effect of these interactions on the social aggregate . Although the subject matter and methodologies in social science differ from those in natural science or computer science , several of the approaches used in contemporary social simulation originated from fields such as physics and artificial intelligence . Some of the approaches that originated in this field have been imported into the natural sciences , such as measures of network centrality from the fields of social network analysis and network science .   In relevant literature , computational sociology is often related to the study of social complexity . Social complexity concepts such as complex systems , non-linear interconnection among macro and micro process , and emergence , have entered the vocabulary of computational sociology . A practical and well-known example is the construction of a computational model in the form of an `` artificial society '' , by which researchers can analyze the structure of a social system .

neg: Voter-verified paper audit trail Voter-verifiable paper audit trail ( VVPAT ) or verifiable paper record ( VPR ) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system . A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly , to detect possible election fraud or malfunction , and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results.It contains name of the candidate ( for whom vote has been casted ) and symbol of the party / individual candidate .   The VVPAT offers some fundamental differences as a paper , rather than electronic recording medium when storing votes . A paper VVPAT is readable by the human eye and voters can directly interpret their vote . Computer memory requires a device and software which potentially is proprietary . Insecure voting machine records could potentially be changed quickly without detection by the voting machine itself . It would be more difficult for voting machines to corrupt records without human intervention . Corrupt or malfunctioning voting machines might store votes other than as intended by the voter unnoticed . A VVPAT allows voters the possibility to verify that their votes are cast as intended and can serve as an additional barrier to changing or destroying votes .   The VVPAT includes a direct recording electronic voting system ( DRE ) , to assure voters that their votes have been recorded as intended . It is intended , and some argue necessary , as a means by which to detect fraud and equipment malfunction . Depending on election laws the paper audit trail may constitute a legal ballot and therefore provide a means by which a manual vote count can be conducted if a recount is necessary . The solution was first demonstrated ( New York City , March 2001 ) and used ( Sacramento , CA 2002 ) by AVANTE International Technology , Inc. . .   In non-document ballot voting systems -- both mechanical voting machines and DRE voting machines -- the voter does not have an option to review a tangible ballot to confirm the voting system accurately recorded his or her intent . In addition , an election official is unable to manually recount ballots in the event of a dispute . Because of this , critics claim there is an increased chance for electoral fraud or malfunction and security experts , such as Bruce Schneier , have demanded voter-verifiable paper audit trails . Non-document ballot voting systems allow only a recount of the `` stored votes . '' These `` stored votes '' might not represent the correct voter intent if the machine has been corrupted or suffered malfunction .   A fundamental hurdle in the implementation of paper audit trails is the performance and authority of the audit . Paper audit systems increase the cost of electronic voting systems , can be difficult to implement , often require specialized external hardware , and can be difficult to use . In the United States , 27 states require a paper audit trail by statute or regulation for all direct recording electronic voting machines used in public elections .  Another 18 states do not require them but use them either statewide or in local jurisdictions . Five US states basically have no paper trail .   In India , Voter-verified paper audit trail ( VVPAT ) system was introduced in 8 of 543 parliamentary constituencies as a pilot project in Indian general election , 2014 . VVPAT is implemented in Lucknow , Gandhinagar , Bangalore South , Chennai Central , Jadavpur , Raipur , Patna Sahib and Mizoram constituencies . Voter-verified paper audit trail was first used in an election in India in September 2013 in Noksen ( Assembly Constituency ) in Nagaland . VVPAT - fitted EVMs was used in entire Goa state in the 2017 assembly elections , which was the first time that an entire state in India saw the implementation of VVPAT .

neg: Rogue Twitter accounts Following the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of United States a ` Resist ' movement began for those in opposition to his presidency . Employees within government organisations and departments took to Twitter to anonymously voice their opposition using accounts that are typically prefixed with either Rogue or Alt . Alice Stollmeyer has dubbed this Twitter resistance movement '' #twistance '' . It 's thought that the Badlands Park Service were the first to create a ` rogue account ' in opposition to President Trump 's assertion that Climate Change was n't real .

neg: Facebook like button The Facebook like button is a feature on the social networking website Facebook . It was first enabled on February 9 , 2009 . The like button enables users to easily interact with status updates , comments , photos , links shared by friends , and advertisements . Once clicked by a user , the designated content appears in the News Feeds of that user 's friends , and the button also displays the number of other users who have liked the content , including a full or partial list of those users . The like button was extended to comments in June 2010 . After extensive testing and years of questions from the public about whether it had an intention to incorporate a `` Dislike '' button , Facebook officially rolled out `` Reactions '' to users worldwide on February 24 , 2016 , letting users long-press on the like button for an option to use one of five pre-defined emotions , including `` Love '' , `` Haha '' , `` Wow '' , `` Sad '' , or `` Angry '' . Reactions were also extended to comments in May 2017 .   The like button is one of Facebook 's social plug-ins , in which the button can be placed on third-party websites . Its use centers around a form of an advertising network , in which it gathers information about which users visit what websites . This form of functionality , a sort of web beacon , has been significantly criticized for privacy . Privacy activist organizations have urged Facebook to stop its data collection through the plug-in , and governments have launched investigations into the activity for possible privacy law violations . Facebook has stated that it anonymizes the information after three months , and that the data collected is not shared or sold to third parties . Additionally , the like button 's potential use as a measurement of popularity has caused some companies to sell likes through fake Facebook accounts , which in turn have sparked complaints from some companies advertising on Facebook that have received an abundance of fake likes that have distorted proper user metrics . Facebook states in its Terms of Service agreement that users may only create one personal page , and it has ongoing efforts against the spread of fake accounts . In the United States , pressing the `` like '' button on a page is protected as freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution .

neg: Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2012 The 2012 reelection campaign of Barack Obama , the 44th President of the United States , was formally announced on April 4 , 2011 . Along with his running mate , Vice President Joe Biden , Obama was opposed in the general election by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney , along with various minor candidates from other parties . The election took place on Tuesday , November 6 , 2012 .   Obama 's campaign headquarters was in Chicago and key members of his successful campaign in 2008 , such as Jim Messina and David Axelrod , returned to staff it . On the day of the announcement , the campaign released a promotional video showing supporters of Obama organizing for the re-election effort . As The Guardian newspaper noted , this was the first U.S. presidential re-election campaign to use Facebook and Twitter for promotion .   Between early-2011 and June 30 , 2012 , the Obama campaign and supporters spent approximately $ 400 million , according to the Federal Election Commission . Obama won his re-election bid by a margin of 51.06 -- 47.21 % . This was the first time since 1944 , when President Franklin D. Roosevelt won re-election , that a Democratic president had won by a majority of the electoral votes and over 51 % of the popular vote twice .

neg: Faithless electors in the United States presidential election, 2016 In the 2016 United States presidential election , seven members of the U.S. Electoral College voted for a different candidate than whom they were pledged to vote . The Democratic Party nominee , Hillary Clinton , lost five of her pledged electors while the Republican Party nominee and then president-elect , Donald Trump , lost two . Three of the faithless electors voted for Colin Powell while John Kasich , Ron Paul , Bernie Sanders , and Faith Spotted Eagle each received one vote .   Three additional electors initially voted against their Clinton pledge but had their votes invalidated according to local statutes , so they were replaced or forced to vote again . The defections fell well short of the number needed to change the result of the election ; only two of the seven defected from the presumptive winner , when 37 were needed to change the outcome .   Although there had been a combined total of 157 instances of individual electors voting faithlessly in over two centuries of previous US presidential elections , 2016 was a year in which multiple groups of electors worked to alter the result of the election in order to `` vote their conscience for the good of America '' in accordance with Alexander Hamilton 's Federalist Paper No. 68 . 2016 was also the first year since 1960 when one of the electors actively worked to change the election . Electors were subjected to public pressure , up to and including death threats .   Seven electors successfully cast faithless ballots for president , the most to defect from presidential candidates who were still alive in Electoral College history , surpassing the six electors who defected from James Madison in the 1808 election . Historically , this number of defections has been exceeded only in cases where the presidential candidate was no longer living at the time the electors cast their ballots : the seven faithless presidential votes in 2016 falls well short of the record set in 1872 , when 63 of 66 electors originally pledged to losing candidate Horace Greeley cast their votes for someone else ( Greeley had died between election day and the meeting of the Electoral College ) . The six faithless vice-presidential votes in 2016 is also short of the record for that office , without considering whether the vice-presidential candidates were still living , as multiple previous elections have had more than six faithless vice-presidential votes ; in 1836 , faithless electors successfully moved the vice-presidential decision to the U.S. Senate .

neg: Democrats for Nixon Democrats for Nixon was a campaign to promote Democratic support for the then-incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election . The campaign was led by the former Democratic governor of Texas , John Connally .   Connally , who was serving as the United States Secretary of the Treasury , announced that he would be supporting Nixon for re-election and would spend his time until the elections working on behalf of the incumbent .   A Democrat who had been Governor of Texas and United States Secretary of the Navy under John F. Kennedy , Connally formally announced the formation of the organization in August 1972 . Polling cited by Connally indicated that as many as 20 million Democrats would cross over to vote for Nixon and invited `` all those millions of Democrats who realize that in this Presidential election President Nixon is simply the better choice '' . Connally stated that he was troubled by Senator George McGovern 's campaign and felt that the Democratic party `` is becoming an ideological machine closed to millions who have been the party 's most loyal and steadfast members '' under McGovern 's leadership . The committee included Mayor Beverly Briley of Nashville , Tennessee , former Governor of Florida Farris Bryant , Mayor of Boston John F. Collins , Mayor Thomas G. Dunn of Elizabeth , New Jersey , Teamsters president Frank Fitzsimmons , Governor of Virginia Mills E. Godwin , Jr. , Mayor of Miami , Florida David T. Kennedy and Leonard Marks who had previously headed the United States Information Agency . A fundraising target of as much as $ 3 million was set for the organization . Connally also announced that Jeno Paulucci , a frozen food distributor who had been closely involved as a fundraiser for Hubert H. Humphrey in his presidential bids , would serve as head of a group encouraging independent voters to choose Nixon .   In a September 1972 article in The New York Times , Connally was quoted as saying that increasing numbers of traditionally Democratic voters were leaving the fold because they `` are afraid of George McGovern '' because of his proposals for major cutbacks in defense spending and in the number of U.S. troops serving in Europe . Connally insisted that `` it is in the best interests of this country that the president be re-elected this year '' .

neg: Tweet Tweet may refer to :   Tweet ( bird call ) , a type of bird vocalization  `` Tweet '' , a message sent using Twitter

neg: Voter model In the mathematical theory of probability , the voter model is a stochastic process that is a specific type of interacting particle system ( see Probabilistic Cellular Automata too ) . A voter model is a sequential dynamical system and it is similar to the contact process .   One can imagine that there is a `` voter '' at each point on a connected graph , where the connections indicate that there is some form of interaction between a pair of voters ( nodes ) . The opinions of any given voter on some issue changes at random times under the influence of opinions of his neighbours . A voter 's opinion at any given time can take one of two values , labelled 0 and 1 . At random times , a random individual is selected and that voter 's opinion are changed according to a stochastic rule . Specifically , for one of the chosen voter 's neighbors is chosen according to a given set of probabilities and that individual 's opinion is transferred to the chosen voter .   An alternative interpretation is in terms of spatial conflict . Suppose two nations control the areas ( sets of nodes ) labelled 0 or 1 . A flip from 0 to 1 at a given location indicates an invasion of that site by the other nation .   Note that only one flip happens each time . Problems involving the voter model will often be recast in terms of the dual system of coalescing Markov chains . Frequently , these problems will then be reduced to others involving independent Markov chains .

neg: Hillary Clinton email controversy In March 2015 , it became publicly known that Hillary Clinton , during her tenure as United States Secretary of State , had used her family 's private email server for official communications , rather than official State Department email accounts maintained on federal servers . Those official communications included thousands of emails that would retroactively be marked classified by the State Department .   The controversy unfolded against the backdrop of Clinton 's 2016 presidential election campaign and hearings held by the United States House Select Committee on Benghazi . Some experts , officials , and members of Congress have contended that her use of private messaging system software and a private server violated State Department protocols and procedures , as well as federal laws and regulations governing recordkeeping . In response , Clinton has said that her use of personal email was in compliance with federal laws and State Department regulations , and that former secretaries of state had also maintained personal email accounts , though not their own private email servers .   After allegations were raised that some of the emails in question contained classified information , the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) initiated an investigation regarding the origin and handling of classified emails on Clinton 's server . The FBI Report found that some of the emails originated in five other intelligence agencies . The FBI found that all classified emails on Clinton 's server were stored and sent from `` unclassified systems '' , violating the same policies as those on Clinton 's personal server .   FBI Director James Comey identified 110 emails as containing information that was classified at the time it was sent , including 65 emails deemed `` Secret '' and 22 deemed `` Top Secret '' . None of these had classification markings . However , as noted in Clinton 's non-disclosure agreement , unmarked classified information should be treated the same as marked classified information . An additional three email chains contained `` portion markings '' , simply a '' ( C ) '' indicating `` Confidential '' in front of one or more paragraphs . These were not included in Comey 's list of 110 because the State Department failed to confirm they were classified at the time they were sent . Clinton told the FBI she did not know the meaning of '' ( C ) '' . Nearly 2,100 emails on the server were retroactively marked as classified by the State Department .   In May 2016 , the State Department 's Office of the Inspector General released an 83-page report about the State Department 's email practices , including Clinton 's . On July 5 , 2016 , Comey announced that the FBI 's investigation had concluded that Clinton was `` extremely careless '' in handling her email system but recommended that no charges be filed against her . On July 6 , 2016 , Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that no charges would be filed .   On July 7 , the State Department reopened its probe into the email controversy . On October 28 , 2016 , Comey notified Congress that the FBI had started looking into newly discovered emails that may be pertinent to the case . Law enforcement officials stated the emails were found on a laptop belonging to Clinton aide Huma Abedin 's husband , Anthony Weiner , during an investigation of his sexting scandals . On November 6 , Comey notified Congress that the FBI had not changed its conclusion , reached in July , regarding Clinton 's emails .

neg: Big data Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing application software is inadequate to deal with them . Challenges include capture , storage , analysis , data curation , search , sharing , transfer , visualization , querying , updating and information privacy . The term `` big data '' often refers simply to the use of predictive analytics , user behavior analytics , or certain other advanced data analytics methods that extract value from data , and seldom to a particular size of data set . `` There is little doubt that the quantities of data now available are indeed large , but that 's not the most relevant characteristic of this new data ecosystem . ''  Analysis of data sets can find new correlations to `` spot business trends , prevent diseases , combat crime and so on . '' Scientists , business executives , practitioners of medicine , advertising and governments alike regularly meet difficulties with large data-sets in areas including Internet search , fintech , urban informatics , and business informatics . Scientists encounter limitations in e-Science work , including meteorology , genomics , connectomics , complex physics simulations , biology and environmental research .   Data sets grow rapidly - in part because they are increasingly gathered by cheap and numerous information-sensing Internet of things devices such as mobile devices , aerial ( remote sensing ) , software logs , cameras , microphones , radio-frequency identification ( RFID ) readers and wireless sensor networks . The world 's technological per-capita capacity to store information has roughly doubled every 40 months since the 1980s ; , every day 2.5 exabytes ( 2.5 × 1018 ) of data are generated . One question for large enterprises is determining who should own big-data initiatives that affect the entire organization .   Relational database management systems and desktop statistics - and visualization-packages often have difficulty handling big data . The work may require `` massively parallel software running on tens , hundreds , or even thousands of servers '' . What counts as `` big data '' varies depending on the capabilities of the users and their tools , and expanding capabilities make big data a moving target . `` For some organizations , facing hundreds of gigabytes of data for the first time may trigger a need to reconsider data management options . For others , it may take tens or hundreds of terabytes before data size becomes a significant consideration . ''

neg: Technological unemployment Technological unemployment is the loss of jobs caused by technological change . Such change typically includes the introduction of labour-saving `` mechanical-muscle '' machines or more efficient `` mechanical-mind '' processes ( automation ) . Just as horses employed as prime movers were gradually made obsolete by the automobile , humans ' jobs have also been affected throughout modern history . Historical examples include artisan weavers reduced to poverty after the introduction of mechanised looms . During World War II , Alan Turing 's Bombe machine compressed and decoded thousands of man-years worth of encrypted data in a matter of hours . A contemporary example of technological unemployment is the displacement of retail cashiers by self-service tills .   That technological change can cause short-term job losses is widely accepted . The view that it can lead to lasting increases in unemployment has long been controversial . Participants in the technological unemployment debates can be broadly divided into optimists and pessimists . Optimists agree that innovation may be disruptive to jobs in the short term , yet hold that various compensation effects ensure there is never a long-term negative impact on jobs . Whereas pessimists contend that at least in some circumstances , new technologies can lead to a lasting decline in the total number of workers in employment . The phrase `` technological unemployment '' was popularised by John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s . Yet the issue of machines displacing human labour has been discussed since at least Aristotle 's time .   Prior to the 18th century both the elite and common people would generally take the pessimistic view on technological unemployment , at least in cases where the issue arose . Due to generally low unemployment in much of pre-modern history , the topic was rarely a prominent concern . In the 18th century fears over the impact of machinery on jobs intensified with the growth of mass unemployment , especially in Great Britain which was then at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution . Yet some economic thinkers began to argue against these fears , claiming that overall innovation would not have negative effects on jobs . These arguments were formalised in the early 19th century by the classical economists . During the second half of the 19th century , it became increasingly apparent that technological progress was benefiting all sections of society , including the working class . Concerns over the negative impact of innovation diminished . The term `` Luddite fallacy '' was coined to describe the thinking that innovation would have lasting harmful effects on employment .   The view that technology is unlikely to lead to long term unemployment has been repeatedly challenged by a minority of economists . In the early 1800s these included Ricardo himself . There were dozens of economists warning about technological unemployment during brief intensifications of the debate that spiked in the 1930s and 1960s . Especially in Europe , there were further warnings in the closing two decades of the twentieth century , as commentators noted an enduring rise in unemployment suffered by many industrialised nations since the 1970s . Yet a clear majority of both professional economists and the interested general public held the optimistic view through most of the 20th century .   In the second decade of the 21st century , a number of studies have been released suggesting that technological unemployment may be increasing worldwide . Further increases are forecast for the years to come . While many economists and commentators still argue such fears are unfounded , as was widely accepted for most of the previous two centuries , concern over technological unemployment is growing once again . A report in Wired in 2017 quotes knowledgeable people such as economist Gene Sperling and management professor Andrew McAfee on the idea that handling existing and impending job loss to automation is a `` significant issue '' . Regarding a recent claim by a political appointee that automation is not `` going to have any kind of big effect on the economy for the next 50 or 100 years , '' says McAfee , `` I do n't talk to anyone in the field who believes that . '' Innovations like Watson have the potential to render humans obsolete with the professional , white-collar , low-skilled , creative fields , and other `` mental jobs '' .

neg: Tactical voting In voting methods , tactical voting ( or strategic voting or sophisticated voting or insincere voting ) occurs , in elections with more than two candidates , when a voter supports another candidate more strongly than their sincere preference in order to prevent an undesirable outcome .   For example , in a simple plurality election , a voter might sometimes gain a `` better '' outcome by voting for a less preferred but more generally popular candidate .   It has been shown by the Gibbard -- Satterthwaite theorem that any single-winner ranked voting method which is not dictatorial must be susceptible to tactical voting . However , the type of tactical voting and the extent to which it affects campaigns and election results can vary dramatically from one voting method to another .

neg: 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt On 15 July 2016 , an alleged coup d'état was attempted in Turkey against state institutions , including , but not limited to the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan . The attempt was carried out by a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces that organized themselves as the Peace at Home Council . They attempted to seize control of several key places in Ankara , Istanbul , and elsewhere , but failed to do so after forces loyal to the state defeated them . The Council cited an erosion of secularism , elimination of democratic rule , disregard for human rights , and Turkey 's loss of credibility in the international arena as reasons for the coup . The government accused the coup leaders of being linked to the Gülen movement , which is designated as a terrorist organization by the Republic of Turkey and led by Fethullah Gülen , a Turkish businessman and cleric who lives in Pennsylvania . Erdoğan accuses Gülen of being behind the coup -- a claim that Gülen denies -- and accused the United States of harboring him . Gülen has suggested the coup was in fact a `` self-coup '' carried out by Erdogan to consolidate his grip on power , a belief shared among some analysts and many Turks . Events surrounding the coup attempt and the purges in its aftermath reflect a complex power struggle between Islamist elites in Turkey .   During the coup , over 300 people were killed and more than 2,100 were injured . Many government buildings , including the Turkish Parliament and the Presidential Palace , were bombed from the air . Mass arrests followed , with at least 40,000 detained , including at least 10,000 soldiers and , for reasons that remain unclear , 2,745 judges . 15,000 education staff were also suspended and the licenses of 21,000 teachers working at private institutions were revoked as well after the government alleged they were loyal to Gülen . More than 100,000 people have been arrested or fired from their jobs , on accusations of connections to Gülen .   Reactions to the event were largely against the coup attempt , both domestically and internationally . The main opposition parties in Turkey condemned the attempt , while several international leaders -- such as those from the United States , NATO , the European Union , and other neighboring countries -- called for `` respect of the democratic institutions in Turkey and its elected officials . '' International organizations expressed themselves against the coup as well . The United Nations Security Council , however , did not denounce the coup after disagreements over the phrasing of a statement .   President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the head of United States Central Command , chief General Joseph Votel of `` siding with coup plotters '' , after Votel accused the Turkish government of arresting the Pentagon 's contacts in Turkey .   In March 2017 , Germany 's intelligence chief said Germany was unconvinced by Erdoğan 's claim that Fethullah Gulen was behind the failed coup . Also in March , the British Parliament 's Foreign Affairs Committee said some Gulenists were involved in coup d'état attempt but found no hard evidence that Fethullah Gülen masterminded the failed coup and found no evidence to justify the UK designating the Gülen movement as a `` terrorist organization '' .

neg: Social graph The social graph in the Internet context is a graph that depicts personal relations of internet users . In short , it is a model or representation of a social network , where the word graph has been taken from graph theory . The social graph has been referred to as `` the global mapping of everybody and how they 're related '' .   The term was popularized at the Facebook F8 conference on May 24 , 2007 , when it was used to explain how the newly introduced Facebook Platform would take advantage of the relationships between individuals to offer a richer online experience . The definition has been expanded to refer to a social graph of all Internet users .   Since explaining the concept of the social graph , Mark Zuckerberg , one of the founders of Facebook , has often touted Facebook 's goal of offering the website 's social graph to other websites so that a user 's relationships can be put to use on websites outside of Facebook 's control . This can be accomplished through the Facebook Open Graph API .   One of the earliest known forms of the social graph was created in 2002 by Harvard student Philippe Bouzaglou in a paper published on the Harvard Department of Economics website . The paper replicated the Kevin Bacon Game using Harvard students and for the first time , gave an overview of an entire social graph , allowing the analysis of the characteristics of the network using graph theory . This paper was written for a seminar that was attended by Dustin Moskovitz who later became a Facebook co-founder .

neg: Tyranny of the majority Tyranny of the majority ( or tyranny of the masses ) refers to an inherent weakness of direct democracy and majority rule in which the majority of an electorate can place its own interests above , and at the expense of , those in the minority . This results in oppression of minority groups comparable to that of a tyrant or despot .   Potentially , through tyranny of the majority , a disliked or unfavored ethnic , religious , political , or racial group may be deliberately targeted for oppression by the majority element acting through the democratic process .   American founding father Alexander Hamilton writing to Jefferson from the Constitutional Convention argued the same fears regarding the use of pure direct democracy by the majority to elect a demagogue who , rather than work for the benefit of all citizens , set out to either harm those in the minority or work only for those of the upper echelon . The Electoral College mechanism present in the indirect United States presidential election system , and the phenomenon of faithless electors allowed for within it , was , in part , deliberately created as a safety measure not only to prevent such a scenario , but also to prevent the use of democracy to overthrow democracy for an authoritarian , dictatorial or other system of oppressive government . As articulated by Hamilton , one reason the Electoral College was created was so `` that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications '' .   The scenarios in which tyranny perception occurs are very specific , involving a sort of distortion of democracy preconditions :   Centralisation excess : when the centralised power of a federation make a decision that should be local , breaking with the commitment to the subsidiarity principle . Typical solutions , in this condition , are concurrent majority and supermajority rules .  Abandonment of rationality : when , as Tocqueville remembered , a decision `` which bases its claim to rule upon numbers , not upon rightness or excellence '' . The use of public consultation , technical consulting bodies , and other similar mechanisms help to improve rationality of decisions before voting on them . Judicial review ( e.g. declaration of nullity of the decision ) is the typical way after the vote .   In both cases , in a context of a nation , constitutional limits on the powers of a legislative body , and the introduction of a Bill of Rights have been used to counter the problem . A separation of powers ( for example a legislative and executive majority actions subject to review by the judiciary ) may also be implemented to prevent the problem from happening internally in a government .

neg: Mass communication Mass communication is the study of how people exchange information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time . In other words , mass communication refers to the imparting and exchanging of information on a large scale to a wide range of people . It is usually understood to relate newspaper , magazine , and book publishing , as well as radio , television and film , even via internet as these mediums are used for disseminating information , news and advertising . Mass communication differs from the studies of other forms of communication , such as interpersonal communication or organizational communication , in that it focuses on a single source transmitting information to a large number of receivers . The study of mass communication is chiefly concerned with how the content of mass communication persuades or otherwise affects the behavior , attitude , opinion , or emotion of the person or people receiving the information .