Party Perspectives: Immigration Reform
Immigration reform has been an important agenda item both for lawmakers and for the President. Despite bipartisan support for the issue, and recent cooperation on the Omnibus and Farm bills, immigration appears to be stalled. Consider the following questions in your reflection: – Is comprehensive immigration reform, and other kinds of comprehensive reform, […]
From the Printing Press to Printing Firearms: The effect of 3D printed guns on US federal legislation
“Reservations about rapid technological change are widely shared regardless of political party or philosophy. In America, the tensions between approval of science and worry about the rapid changes it can bring bubbles up in special ways when moral or cultural choices seem to be involved.” This quote by author Jonathan D. Moreno from his book […]
Domestic Threat: How the US Military Continues to Fail on Issues of Sexual Abuse
A great documentary sheds light on an underrepresented niche of human life and exposes us to issues we never before considered. Documentaries should be creative and enlightening, but when it comes to being hard-hitting, some hit harder than others. Rather than examining sushi chefs, babies, or folk singers, the Academy Award-nominated “The Invisible War” documents […]
Left-by-South-West: The Return of Democrat Politics in Texas
This summer, Texas legislator Wendy Davis, clad in pink sneakers, staged an 11-hour filibuster that successfully blocked Republican efforts to greatly restrict abortion policy.[1] The filibuster delayed the passing of House Bill 2, and successfully launched Davis to political fame, both within the state and across the country. Incumbent Rick Perry will not seek re-election […]
The Infrastructure Improvement Conundrum
Infrastructure in the United States is in a state of disrepair. The American Society of Civil Engineers 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure stamps US infrastructure with a letter grade of D+, with an estimated $3.6 trillion investment needed by 2020 to bring that grade to a B.[1] How will the US finance the necessary […]
Buying Our Security: The Actual Risk of Terrorism
The United States is in a perpetual state of alert, forced to contend with a question that never seems to receive an answer: are we safer than we were before the fall of the Twin Towers changed everything? The effort to provide a positive response to this question comes with considerable cost. The Department of […]
GOP 2016: Looking to the Past, Present, and Future for the Republican Strategy
With the 2012 election firmly in the rear view mirror, Republicans have spent the better part of 2013 reflecting on their loss in the presidential race and rebranding the party image. Despite retaining a majority in the House of Representatives, the GOP has conceded that the landscape for a presidential election is entirely different. In […]
Do-it-Yourself Terrorism: Al Qaeda’s Ad Campaign and the Domestic War on Terror
On April 15th at 2:49 p.m., two massive explosions detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.1 Cheers were quickly replaced with screams of horror, celebration with mayhem. The two suspects believed to be responsible for this tragedy, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, allegedly used simple household items and over-the-counter materials to wound 264 people […]
Gallery: Boston Marathon Bombing
Andy Robinson is a 3rd year transfer student from Hanover, PA. He is pursuing a B.A. in journalism. All photographs in this gallery © Andy Robinson