Nigeria faces a critical crossroads as it wages war on the terrorist group Boko Haram. This April, the country’s citizens elected Muhammadu Buhari president, forwarding a broad mandate to overhaul the nation’s counterterrorism strategy. Since its inception in 2002, Boko Haram has been responsible for numerous kidnappings, suicide bombings, and armed attacks on popular landmarks. … Read more
As a proud Christian man hailing from Bardstown, Kentucky, I felt compelled to come to the defense of the Christian Right in light of the Kim Davis situation. Although the circumstance of the Rowan County clerk is the first of its kind in the post-Obergefell v. Hodges world, wherein gay marriage is now the law … Read more
“Welcome to Groundhog Day,” began Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, setting the tone for his refutation of Justice Stephen Breyer’s multi-tiered dissent in this year’s Glossip v. Gross ruling. Scalia, joined by Clarence Thomas, fiercely defended of the constitutionality of capital punishment and the use of a specific drug in lethal injections. The two justices … Read more
As I type this I’m streaking down the highway in a Megabus-turned-Boltbus with the jagged skyline of my city, Philadelphia, in sights. Read any of the recent headlines from Philadelphia’s media outlets and you will almost prevailingly find them to be about some aspect of the Pope Francis’ recent sojourn in Philly. Now that the … Read more
At the third Republican Presidential Debate, the host, CNBC, pr,omised a debate about “Your Money, Your Vote”. Yet, at the night’s end, it seemed the ten candidates spoke less about “Your Money, Your Vote” and instead used the opportunity to attack the media. This strategy involved ignoring questions, fighting back at combative moderators and using … Read more
Last Wednesday night, 14 million viewers tuned in to watch the Republican debate. However, that was not the most compelling political event of the evening. While the ten Republican candidates discussed tax reforms, immigration policies, and Social Security, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders hosted a National Student Town Hall at George Mason University. More than … Read more
Republicans understand American frustration with taxes, as was more than evident in the last GOP debate: every GOP candidate believes in some combination of reforms and cuts to the tax code. However, the specificities of each candidate’s tax plan and the rhetoric they used to present their plans during the GOP debate highlight just how each … Read more
In one of his more famous essays, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell argues that politicians and political parties often employ different generalities and don different clichés, “but [parties and politicians] are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, homemade turn of speech.” Here, Orwell claims that regardless … Read more
The CNBC Republican debate brought its fair share of controversy. HPR writers analyze the night’s happenings, from the strained relationship between moderators and candidates to the policies they discussed. Image credits: Flickr/Peter Stevens
During the last Republican primary debate, the focus took a strange turn when Senator Ted Cruz was asked about his position that the Democrats’ efforts to equalize wages between men and women are just “political show votes.” Senator Cruz responded first with describing his mother, sister, and aunts—all of whom were single mothers—to show his … Read more