By Rohan Ahammed (PO ’24) Australia made headlines at the beginning of 2020 after bushfires devastated large swathes of the country. With climate change shown to increase the risk of bushfires by at least 30%, it is no surprise that Australia often experiences the most extreme effects of global warming along its lush eastern coast.…
By Christopher Tan (PZ ’21) Regardless of the results of November’s election, Donald Trump’s legacy will extend far beyond his first term. He has appointed hundreds of judges in America’s lower districts and circuit courts throughout his presidency. And most recently, for the third time in four years, he has nominated his pick to the…
By Andy Xu (PO ’24) The Race for a Vaccine Imagine you’re asked to be among one of the first recipients of the FDA approved COVID-19 vaccine. You might consider refusing and, as of now, that decision wouldn’t be uncommon. In fact, over two-thirds of Americans say that they intend to forgo such a vaccine…
By Ebere Amadi (PO ’22) On Wednesday, October 7th at 6 PM PST, The U.S. Vice Presidential Debate kicked off with Californian Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Pence clashing in Kingsbury Hall, Salt Lake City, Utah. Senator Harris spent the duration of the debate defending the Presidential nominee Joe Biden and hitting the Trump…
Guest Contributors Anubhav Das and Winy Daigavane, National University of Advanced Legal Studies In January 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was reported. In the five months since, it has spread all over the world. Around the world, public health officials have enacted stringent measures to mitigate the impact of the virus. However, deaths continue…
Camryn Fujita (SCR ‘21) The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has amplified Hawaii’s age-old issues with economic inequality and the state’s heavy reliance on the tourism industry. The pandemic has shown no mercy in disrupting plans for the fall and winter months, and as the United States trudged through months of quarantine, economic hardship, and spikes in…
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,…
By: Liz Johnson (PO ’24) One of the most heavily militarized zones in the world is the Taiwan Strait, a 110-mile wide strait that separates China and Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own. In 1954, both Taiwan and China tacitly agreed to recognize and not cross this median line, since then…
Jon Burkart (PO ’24) If the past 6 months have proved anything, it’s that nothing is wholly immune to COVID-19. Institutions of higher education (IHE) are certainly no exception. On October 15th, National Student Clearinghouse reported that average undergraduate enrollment for the fall 2020 semester is down 4%, and overall enrollment is down 3% compared…
Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) After months of campaigning and punditry, Tuesday’s election brought a record breaking turn-out of nearly 160 million Americans. While much of the focus of this election season has been on the presidential race between incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, several citizen led ballot-initiatives made history this week.…
Scotland Carter (SC ’24) The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted in 1938 in response to the growing number of workplace abuses during the Great Depression. Before 1938, the federal government had not regulated workplace conditions for employees in either the public or private sectors: there was no minimum wage, overtime pay, or working…
Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) The final Presidential debate on Thursday at Nashville’s Belmont University brought unexpected levels of professionalism from both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. After the chaos that unfolded during the first debate, it was unclear whether this one would offer any substance on either candidates’ platforms or policy goals. Fortunately, with the…
Rya Jetha (PO ’23) Earlier this month, Julian Assange’s extradition trial concluded after four weeks of testimony at London’s Central Criminal Court. The proceedings included testimony about Assange’s risk of being denied justice if he were extradited to the United States, political motivations behind his prosecution, and his physical and mental health. But this trial…
By Cade Novara (PO ’23) For the past eight months, the country has been ravaged by the coronavirus. The lack of a cohesive, coordinated response from the government has left the United States with nearly 8 million cases and 217,000 deaths from the virus. Despite claims that the virus does not discriminate among groups, it…
By Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) Rap has always been protest music. Sprouted in the soil of the civil rights movement and War on Drugs, rap functions as a platform for African Americans to express frustration with institutional and interpersonal oppression. The caricature-like portrayal of black men in the music industry relies heavily on stereotypes of…
