Climate change is real. The science is irrefutable. The Earth’s average surface temperature is increasing at an unprecedented rate—almost a full degree Celsius in the past thirty-five years alone. In contrast, when the Earth transitioned out of the last ice age, it took about ten thousand years for temperatures to rise by 4°C. The past […]
Our nominating process for presidential candidates needs to change. Not just because of the Democratic Party’s blundering of the Iowa caucus—though it’s hard to deny that was a complete disaster and the caucus system should be reexamined—but because two states that no longer reflect the demographics of America maintain undue influence in the primary process. […]
In 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, he might lead Ethiopia to war with Egypt over a dam. The conflict started in 2009, when Ethiopia announced that it would construct the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, without prior consultation with Egypt or Sudan. The Blue […]
The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (S.1158) not only condemns genocide and acknowledges its threat to national and international security, but also establishes the United States’ responsibility for intervention and strengthens the “government’s capacity to prevent, mitigate, and respond to such crises.” The original proposal established a response to genocide, but […]
At first glance, marijuana legalization doesn’t seem like it should be a priority for voters in the upcoming election, especially when compared to issues such as the lack of accessible health care, the climate crisis, and rising gun violence. However, the legalization of marijuana directly relates to criminal justice reform. The War on Drugs—an initiative […]
On September 19, 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron and other world leaders expressed their relief and approval of Scotland’s decisive vote to remain in the United Kingdom (UK), but it would not take long for Scottish leaders and citizens to regret the results. In 2016, Cameron’s government asked the citizens of England, Wales, Scotland, and […]
From the heart It’s a start, a work of art To revolutionize make a change nothing’s strange People, people we are the same. Public Enemy, “Fight the Power,” Fear of a Black Planet (1990) When people first heard those lines from the unparalleled baritone of Chuck D., the frontman for the hip-hop group Public Enemy, […]
“And I cannot see, why arms should be denied to any man who is not a slave, since the are the only true badges of liberty.” –Andrew Fletcher In my previous piece, I denounced the idea that gun ownership should be a right. Here, I discuss why firearms are antithetical to freedom. On Tyranny of […]
Thinkpieces on Donald Trump’s election and its underlying forces are like hard liquor. On November 8, 2016, as Trump’s victory shifted from implausible to unlikely to possible to probable to inevitable, Twitter responded in real time. It doesn’t take many words or much thought to tweet, so the takes were as close to instant as […]
The recent withdrawal of United States military forces from Syria has thrust the Kurds—an ethnic group inhabiting the south of Turkey, Syria, northern Iraq, and Iran—into the international spotlight. In recent years, Kurds predominantly located in Syria and southern Turkey have fought successfully with US forces against the regional strongholds of the Islamic State and […]
