Andy Liu (HMC ‘23) The lights first went out three weeks ago, but Texas has suffered from mass utility failure ever since the winter storms of February 10th, 2021. The outages have had a tremendous impact on Texans, leaving five million without power and twelve million without water at their peak. In the political wake of the disaster, local politicians initially blamed the halting of renewable...
Andy Liu, Mudd ‘23 Despite opposition from organized labor groups, the most expensive ballot measure in California history won by a comfortable margin last Tuesday, with voters approving Prop 22 by a 58-42 margin. Prop 22 classified rideshare and delivery drivers as contractors rather than employees. This exempted corporations such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, who spent over two hundred million...
By: Andy Liu (HMC ’23) Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, nations across the world have rapidly intervened to contain the virus’ spread. Much has been made of the different approaches that the world’s developed nations have taken toward containing COVID-19; whether it’s the United States’ federal approach, with individual states having their own containment strategies, South...
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...
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...
By Andy Liu (HMC ’23) During the ongoing 2020 Democratic primaries, many candidates have proposed varying levels of tuition-free public college, ranging from moderate proposals involving free community college, some level of student loan forgiveness, or the complete elimination of tuition and fees at all public colleges. Yet, while these plans have come under fire from conservative commentators...
By Andy Liu (HMC ’23) This June, the tech community was taken by storm when Facebook announced it would be launching Libra, a new cryptocurrency in 2020. In the four months since, the proposed currency has faced staunch opposition from both politicians and power players in the tech industry, such as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. This threatens to delay Libra indefinitely, something that could...
By Andy Liu (HMC ’23) The European Union has a reputation for stringent data rights regulations, with the 2018 passing of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) further strengthening personal data rights and data protection across member states. However, a recent ruling in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in a case between Google and CNIL, a French privacy regulator, relaxed...
