Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s reelection last week has surprised many Israelis as well as the rest of the world. Almost every poll taken prior to the election showed Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party losing by around two to five seats to the center-left Zionist Union Party led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni. Many attribute … Continue reading
Category Archives: Politics
A World Free of Nuclear Weapons? More like a World Full of Nuclear Weapons.
The use of nuclear weapons is perhaps the most dangerous threat one state can make against another. Dropping a single bomb can kill millions of civilians, destroy cities and cause massive economic damage. When the U.S. dropped the Atom bomb on Nagasaki, it destroyed approximately 40 percent of the buildings in the city. In Hiroshima, … Continue reading
Little Innovation with Sequestration
“It hangs over us like a dark cloud,” noted National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins Tuesday, March 10 at a Senate Committee meeting on “Continuing America’s Leadership in Medical Innovation for Patients,” in reply to a question regarding the impact of sequestration on the NIH. The sequestration was a serious blow to the NIH, … Continue reading
The Debt Ceiling: Good Politics, Not Policy
As of this past week, our federal government has managed to clear the hurdle of fully funding the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, this is only one of the many vitally important budget issues on the horizon, including Medicare payments to doctors, funding for the Highway Trust Fund and our crumbling infrastructure, and the prospect … Continue reading
Let the Spectrum Market Work
In modern America the airwaves are continuously flooded with waves that we cannot see. Radio waves carry signals for everything from smartphones to televisions using bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The use of spectrum for communication has a long and thorny history going back to the first radio broadcasters. Like any form of communication, the … Continue reading
Want to Weaken Terrorist Groups? Go After Their Bank Accounts.
Terrorist groups use a variety of different methods for funding. Many of them, including Al Qaeda and Al- Shebab, heavily rely on donations and money laundering in order to support their operations. The Islamic State is no exception. While it takes advantage of other funding opportunities, including black market crude oil sales and looting, both … Continue reading
Meat Industry Challenged by New DGAC Report
Do you love coffee but also love red meat and dessert? If so, there’s good news and bad news. On Thursday, February 19, the Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee (DGAC) released a lengthy 571-page report of suggestions to the Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The report explained … Continue reading
Going Viral: The Re-Emergence of Preventable Diseases
John Snow is viewed by many as a pioneer in disease mapping. He was a founding member of the London Epidemiological Society, one of the first professional organizations devoted to the field of epidemiology. For the 1854 cholera outbreak in London’s Broad Street region, he presented a map of disease outbreaks around the Broad Street Pump to … Continue reading
Employer Wellness Programs: ADA and ACA
The rising cost of health benefits and prevalence of chronic diseases has increased the significance of employer wellness programs. These programs encourage healthier lifestyles and may help reduce health care costs, with numerous large firms suggesting that the programs save the average employer $3.27 for every dollar spent on them. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions … Continue reading
Reducing the Trade Deficit with China: Repealing the Crude Oil Export Ban
With much of the current energy conversation surrounding the Keystone XL Pipeline, many Americans have forgotten, or may not even know, about another energy issue that might just be more important: the crude oil export ban. Since the 1970’s, the U.S. government has prohibited U.S. oil producers to export crude oil internationally in order to … Continue reading
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