“If this was apartheid police we’d riot.” So tweeted social activist Zackie Achmat on February 28 in reference to recent episodes of police brutality in South Africa that have focused public scrutiny and ire on the much-maligned establishment. The latest outcry results from a recently-released video showing taxi driver Mido Macia being tied to the … Read more
Last month, the White House press corps exploded in frustration over its lack of access to President Obama–an incident set off by the president’s private golf outing with Tiger Woods. While choosing this episode to cite may have trivialized reporters’ concerns, their complaint touched on the real problems associated with a “new normal” in the journalist-newsmaker relationship. … Read more
The “Christian right,” a movement of predominantly evangelical Christians, has dominated the political landscape of American conservatism for decades. However, in the face of increasing national secularism, apathy, and disillusionment, the group’s future is now less than certain. Part of this may well be the usual doom mongering that often besets either side of American … Read more
On June 28, 2012, the media bustled once again with news of the Supreme Court. The Court had released its long-anticipated verdict on the Affordable Care Act case. But one thing was markedly different about the reporting produced that day; the phrase “Roberts Court,” in lieu of “the Supreme Court” or “SCOTUS,” presented itself as … Read more
When I was a student at an established, well-resourced public school in an upper-middle class neighborhood, I knew that there were college opportunities out there for me. As the son of two college graduates, I had role models that expected me to push myself past high school graduation and past my local community college. As … Read more
Unemployment rate. The catch-all political stock phrase on the state of the economy. A single metric which, when blown out of proportion, is inherently distortionary. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics defines the unemployment rate as the total number of unemployed as a fraction of the civilian labor force. How one defines ‘unemployed,” however, completely … Read more
On October 22, 2012, Italian judge Marco Billi sentenced six Italian scientists and a government official to six years in prison. The crime? Manslaughter, for statements they made prior to a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in the region of Abruzzo, which resulted in 309 deaths. On March 6, almost five months after the sentencing and just … Read more
The New York Times has a new “Room for Debate” up that asks whether schools should adjudicate rape cases, or whether they should be left up to courts of law. This comes on the heels of a recent extensive piece in The Crimson on Harvard’s sexual assault policy. Given the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the Gov … Read more
Continued from Part I. Replacing Binge-Drinking Doctors regularly debate how dangerous marijuana actually is. Some argue THC, the active stimulant in marijuana, evolved with man and became natural to our bodies — they claim anti-marijuana doctors engage in “psychopharmacological McCarthyism” when focusing on side effects other than obvious respiratory issues caused by smoking it. These anti-marijuana … Read more
