The theme of this week is “democracy prevails!” Here are some highlights of democracy prevailing at home and abroad. In Germany, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (say that five times fast), the state agency for Constitutional compliance, has placed the opposition AfD (Alternative for Deutschland) Party under government surveillance. This comes after the BfV alleged a… Continue reading The Week in Viewpoints
Category: Columns
New administration channels Sanders, plans to deliver solutions to the cycle of student debt
The long-awaited day has come. Student loan debt cancellation, if incoming President Biden is to be believed, may be upon us. Statements made by the incoming administration promise relief for the almost 45 million Americans who currently hold some level of student debt, but what do the new president’s promises really mean for college students?… Continue reading New administration channels Sanders, plans to deliver solutions to the cycle of student debt
Lessons from the pandemic: why free trade should come second to national security
While those days are almost a year behind us now, I want you, reader, to think back on those troubled few weeks before the Coronavirus made a jump over to American shores. I, news junky that I am, was following the situation with rapt attention. At first, it seemed like a modern-day Moses had visited… Continue reading Lessons from the pandemic: why free trade should come second to national security
Actually, yes, they are using “Orwellian” correctly
Times are strange when the word “Orwellian” is actually getting redefined right before our eyes. For those who didn’t read (or perhaps suffer through) George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the book describes the travails of Winston Smith, a low-level desk worker in the propaganda ministry of a fictitious totalitarian regime. The work was… Continue reading Actually, yes, they are using “Orwellian” correctly
UT’s actions towards Groves evidence of moral cowardice
On Dec. 26, 2020, The New York Times published a story entitled “A Racial Slur, a Viral Video, and a Reckoning.” The article by Dan Levin details the saga of Mimi Groves, a 19-year-old graduate from Heritage High School in Loudoun County, Virginia. She would have been an incoming freshman at the University of Tennessee… Continue reading UT’s actions towards Groves evidence of moral cowardice
A eulogy for MAGA
What started at the bottom of an elevator in June of 2015 ended on the trash-strewn steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition, cobbled together by President Trump and touted as his ride-or-die, unwavering base for years, has, by the looks of things, reached its zenith.… Continue reading A eulogy for MAGA
The Year of Paranoia: how trust evaporated in 2020
The Year of Our Lord 2020 might go down as a watershed year in the history of the United States and the Western world, akin to the Fall of Rome, the Defeat of Napoleon or the start of World War I. At least, that’s how people who just lived it tend to see it looking… Continue reading The Year of Paranoia: how trust evaporated in 2020
Tennessee represents one extreme of the government’s herky-jerky pandemic response
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. At least, that’s what I always heard. Apparently when United States Congressmen and senior federal and state officials were growing up, they heard that aphorism expressed as “lead a horse to water and bribe it to drink.” With a $900 billion dollar… Continue reading Tennessee represents one extreme of the government’s herky-jerky pandemic response
Vaccinate yourself against blind trust in authority
The world has never been more on edge over a vial of chemicals. A COVID-19 vaccine, the mythical ambrosia of the gods, has emerged from laboratories run by Pfizer, Moderna and other giants of the drug industry. In the span of a few months, the world’s most sought-after drug has emerged and is almost ready… Continue reading Vaccinate yourself against blind trust in authority
Lessons from the pandemic: density may be the best policy
In the last hundred years, the name of the game in housing and work has been density. Since 2007, more people globally live in the world’s urban centers than outside of them. In America specifically, that number goes up to 80%. Higher density urban development has come with some costs, like increases in rent across… Continue reading Lessons from the pandemic: density may be the best policy