A Letter to Kerry on Afghanistan
Dear Secretary Kerry: The women of Afghanistan need your help. As head of the diplomatic service of the United States, you have the power to shape US bilateral relations with Afghanistan and therefore direct US involvement in the country. Your recent participation in Afghan peace talks shows that Afghanistan is a top priority; I […]
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 […]
Harmful Drugs, Harmful Policy
For Mike, every day is the same. Shivering nights mercifully give way to morning while he watches the people in his neighborhood get ready for school and work. Although Mike has no job, he has the same plan every morning, afternoon, and night: make money to score heroin. Tuesday is trash day, which means […]
Big Brother Is Here To Stay
Big Brother is here. Earlier this year, Edward Snowden exposed the full reach and extent to which the American government spies not only on its own people, but on foreign governments and even its supposed allies in Mexico, France, Germany, and the European Union. The National Security Agency (NSA) collects massive amounts of phone data, […]
Discrimination Against Minorities in Pakistan: a Look at the UDHR
December 10th, 1948 was a momentous day for human rights. The still-young United Nations (UN) unanimously, with eight abstentions, passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is a 30-article guideline that promotes “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of race, sex, language, or […]
Who “Won” The Government Shutdown?
After 16 days of agonizing political brinkmanship that gripped the nation and left global financial markets in a state of panic, Congress passed an 11th-hour measure to reopen the federal government and save it from a historic loan default. America and its lenders breathed a collective sigh of relief. Tea Party conservatives grumbled. Democrats patted […]
The Carbon Crunch
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be remembered as one of the few politicians to extend term limits in office, but pragmatism will be his ultimate legacy. If Mayor Bloomberg is the ideal pragmatist in politics then meet Dieter Helm, his counterpart in the climate change arena. Like Bloomberg who’s known to champion social […]
H&M: Fashion’s Human Rights Faux Pas
In the midst of a thick smog and blistering heat, they stand in huddled masses on overcrowded trucks. The young women, in groups of around 20 or 30, are on their way to a new day at work in the Kandal province, only a short trip from the heart of Phnom Penh. Noticeably in pain, […]
GOP Can No Longer Afford to Ignore Winning Ticket: Condoleezza Rice
The game is changing, and only one team is successfully adapting. Democrats won a 2012 presidential election in landslide fashion that, in the average Republican’s view, the GOP should not have lost. In the month before the election, the unemployment rate was hovering around 8 percent, federal spending was still high, and the economy had […]