By Christopher Tan (PZ ‘21) In Milan, hospitals have been overwhelmed by a deluge of patients. In Madrid, authorities turned a historic ice-rink into a morgue for the dead. In Paris, officials scramble to find more ventilators for rising numbers of critical cases. With lightning speed, the spread of COVID-19 has devastated European health services and paralyzed continental trade. As borders close...
Kelsey Braford (PO ’22) Many people are unaware of the existence of a discriminatory legal strategy dubbed the “gay panic defense.” Uncommon and widely criticized, it is a tactic that asks “a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity/expression is to blame for a defendant’s violent reaction,” according to the LGBT Bar Association. It is used to strengthen a defense...
David Ruiz (PO ’23) I, along with three other students from the Claremont Colleges in Southern California, was scheduled to attend the University of Washington’s Model EU conference in Seattle this weekend. As headlines from Washington worsened over the course of the week, my colleagues and I became deeply concerned about the status of the conference. Our worries were especially centered on...
Rachel Oda (PO ’20) Guest Contributor The right to privacy, properly understood, is not a shaky cluster of rights, but rather a single, fundamental right that forms the basis of our autonomy. It is a right to one’s person and to control one’s person. I argue it serves as the cornerstone of our Constitution because it provides the basis for many other individual rights, such as the right to...
By Andy Liu (HMC ‘23) For nearly eighty years, control of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) has been passed back and forth between two establishment parties – the center-right Fine Gael, the party of current Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar, and the centrist Fianna Fáil. On February 8, Irish voters swung in a third direction, giving the popular vote to the leftist and Irish...
By Christopher Tan (PZ ‘21) Crippled by US sanctions, embroiled in political unrest and rattled by the death of its most important general; the last few months have tested Iran’s hardline leadership. Yet, through tight control of the media, vote-rigging and revolutionary zest; Tehran has quelled whatever threats these posed to its regime. As the country grapples with the coronavirus’ spread, Iran...
By Shuyan Yan (PO ’23) On Feb.7th, Chinese social media saw a massive outpouring of outrage and grief due to the death of Doctor Li Wenliang from coronavirus. Li Wenliang was one of the eight people who first revealed the information about several mysterious pneumonia cases in Wuhan. However, like the other seven, he was soon reprimanded by Wuhan Police for rumor-mongering. The police asked...
Aditya Bhalla (PO ’23) Last week’s Iowa caucus was supposed to be the emphatic beginning of a widely anticipated electoral cycle. However, as 25 candidates narrowed to a handful of legitimate contenders for the Democratic Party nomination, the caucuses went awry, as precincts had yet to report results late into the night. Final results from the caucuses hadn’t emerged until late in the...
Nathan Tran (PO ‘23) In 2017, Gallup found that 45% of Americans — including 68% of Republicans and 20% of Democrats — believe that the government excessively regulates business and industry. In contrast, only 29% think that there is just the right amount of regulation, while a relatively paltry 23% desire more. This is probably not much of a surprise. The capitalist consensus has long been...
Andy Liu (HMC ‘23) Last Sunday night, five full days after results were expected, the controversial Iowa caucuses finally produced a winner, as Pete Buttigieg narrowly edged out Sen. Bernie Sanders in state delegate equivalents. While the results are still subject to change, the public opinion of Iowa as an unmitigated disaster will not. Historic delays, breakdowns in communication, and widely...
