The US Government’s Role in Regulating Social Media Disinformation
This article was written prior to Elon Musk’s offer to purchase Twitter. In a 2020 report, the Department of Homeland Security named White supremacists as the single greatest domestic terror threat facing the US. In 2021, QAnon supporters, the Proud Boys, and other extremist groups carried out a direct attack on democracy in plain sight. […]
Reimagining the University to Focus on Education
Something is wrong with our university system. Many young Americans decide against enrolling in or even applying to universities and community colleges. College enrollment has declined every year for the past decade, and there are one million fewer students in college today than there were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Credentialism and the college experience don’t […]
Abolishing Journalistic Objectivity in the Pursuit of Truth
Journalists are hiding information from you, but not in the way you think. Many journalists—protected by the decades-old ethical standard of journalistic objectivity—fail to engage in anything more than surface-level interviews with their sources. “Objectivity” hinders reporters from building trusting relationships with their sources, resulting in poor reporting that lacks emotion. News outlets should abandon […]
The Texas Heartbeat Act and its Alarming Disregard Towards Judicial Precedent
The Texas Heartbeat Act, or Senate Bill 8 (SB8), came into effect on September 1, 2021. The bill—perhaps one of the most uncompromising legislative measures to regulate abortions since the Supreme Court’s ruling of Roe v. Wade—bans almost all abortions in Texas after six weeks of pregnancy, including those that are a result of sexual […]
Atoms for Peace: The New Reality is Embracing Nuclear Energy
Show almost anyone the yellow and black three-pronged nuclear emblem, and you will probably get a negative reaction. The symbol evokes feelings of impending doom, visions of mushroom clouds, and worries of radiation-borne maladies. But ironically, the energy behind it is the only thing that can avert catastrophe: the climate emergency. Our current culture would […]
The Case for Abolishing Cash Bail
In 2010, police arrested sixteen-year-old Kalief Browder for a robbery there was no evidence he committed, set his bail at $3,000, and imprisoned him on Rikers Island—all without a trial. The Bronx’s lengthy case backlog and expensive bail kept Browder imprisoned for three years, often in solitary confinement, until the district attorney dismissed the case. […]
“What, like it’s hard?”: The Systemic Barriers to Law School Applications
Upon fictional character Elle Woods’s acceptance to Harvard law, she asks “What, like it’s hard?” Although the girl-boss icon from the 2001 film Legally Blonde is an inspiration for many, the law school application process is far from easy and laden with financial barriers. The admissions process makes it incredibly difficult for low-income students—who are […]
“Move Fast, Break Things”: Facebook Is Killing American Democracy
If Mark Zuckerberg could have predicted that his infamous philosophy—“move fast, break things”—would have turned into the antithesis of democratic values today, he likely would never have said it. Of course, to move fast and break things was once a widely adopted way of thinking for entrepreneurs who aimed to achieve Zuckerberg’s level of success. […]
False Hope Fools the FDA: The Atrocious Authorization of the Alzhiemer’s drug Aducanumab
On June 7, advocacy groups, Alzheimer’s patients, and their families celebrated as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the drug Aducanumab to treat Alzheimer’s. On the surface, this novel therapy—the first approved in 2003—seems massively encouraging for both the patients afflicted with Alzheimer’s and society as a whole. Unfortunately, in authorizing Aducanumab, the […]
Why High-Speed Rail Shouldn’t Be a Priority
High-speed rail (HSR)—intercity passenger transport with trains that reach max speeds of at least 160 mph—has captured the attention and enthusiasm of many young, sustainability-minded people. Its supporters believe that HSR, which the US currently lacks, is a climate-friendly alternative to automotive and air transportation. But they are mistaken. Although HSR is indeed energy-efficient and […]