As America heads into another presidential election, trade relations with China continue to be a complicated issue. Just recently, Chinese officials canceled planned visits with US farmers in Montana and Nebraska. This was a surprise, as the White House had announced hours prior that they would temporarily spare more than 400 Chinese products from tariffs. […]
Though the United States has a slight obsession with installing democratic governments across the globe, American democracy is consistently one of the least active among developed countries. In the 2016 presidential election, only 55.6 percent of citizens in the voting-age population cast a ballot. Turnout has been between fifty-two and sixty-three percent in every presidential […]
On October 3, North Korea launched a missile into the Sea of Japan. It was the eleventh missile test this year, and the first one launched from a submarine. Japan claimed that the missile landed in its exclusive economic zone—an area two hundred nautical miles around the island. In response, Japan’s Self Defense Force (SDF) […]
As the Iowa caucus steadily approaches, Democratic primary candidates are eager to demonstrate their support for rural America, promising to bolster industries that have yet to shift jobs overseas. In Iowa, the largest of these industries is ethanol, a biofuel made from the closest thing Iowa has to gold: corn. Ethanol is a biofuel made […]
Photo courtesy of Aidan Marzo June 1989 marked a flashpoint for Hong Kong activism, when one million Cantonese people protested the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Many Hong Kongers continue to observe June 4th to remember those who died in the crackdown. Martin Lee is one such observer. Lee is the founding […]
The Basics On October 8, 2019, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for three cases that will impact the lives of LGBT people across the United States. The cases will determine whether the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans employment discrimination on the basis of sex, also extends to […]
Humanity’s propensity for unbridled technological advancement has pushed us ever closer to the edge of a cliff. The industrial revolution riddled us with greenhouse gas emissions, and the Manhattan Project brought us to the brink of nuclear devastation more than once. Our powerful painkillers—once touted as a cure for debilitating chronic pain—are now one of […]
Originally published March 2017 As the confirmation hearings for President Trump’s cabinet nominees continue, so does Democratic opposition to his candidates. During the debate on whether to confirm Jeff Sessions as Attorney General on Tuesday, February 7th, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren attempted to read a letter written in 1986 by Coretta Scott King, wife of […]
Originally published January 2017 It would seem that American government officials have never been more accessible to the public than they are today. With the invention of Twitter, Facebook, email, and various other avenues of online connection, reaching out to your representatives has never been easier. The convenience of social media constructs the appearance that […]
On November 2, 1972, Monty Python aired their seminal sketch “Argument Clinic,” in which a man enters said clinic seeking, as hard as it may be to believe, an argument. The receptionist directs him to a room where the inexplicably named Mr. Vibrating awaits him. The man asks whether he’s in the right room; Mr. […]
