Today, January 11, is Human Trafficking Awareness day. As part of January’s National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention month, many nonprofits and citizens are planning efforts to spread awareness and solidarity. One such effort is encouraging President Obama to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which was signed into law in 2008. The Act authorized … Continue reading
Category Archives: U.S. Domestic Policy
Politicizing Adoptions or Tales of the Magnitsky Act
The Magnitsky Act, a bill that recently passed in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, seeks to punish corrupt Russian officials. The bill, named after Sergei Magnitsky who discovered that Russian officials stole $230 million from the Russian treasury and alerted officials, and was later imprisoned and allegedly beaten and denied medical … Continue reading
WARNING: the Adverse Effects of Unilateral Sanctions
Last week, Congress overwhelmingly voted to increase sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although nuclear nonproliferation has become my life work’s purpose, I can’t, in my right mind, agree with our government’s decision to add increased sanctions. On the other Before you stop reading, hear me out. First, let’s examine the general reasons for … Continue reading
A Case for Racism, Misogyny and Homophobia: The Future of Gay Marriage and Rubio’s Misguidance Towards 2016
Not even a month after the election and Republicans are peering over the same slippery slope that led to their 2012 demise: Stances on social issues. In a now rather infamous interview with GQ magazine, Senator and 2016 Presidential hopeful Marco Rubio offered ambiguous responses on a range of topics, perpetuating his already questionable views … Continue reading
Mo’ Money Same Problems
What does 6 billion dollars buy you? Apparently in politics, it buys you an almost unchanged House, Senate, and President. In fairness, out of the 6 billion dollars spent, only – and I say only because in perspective it can be qualified as such – around 680 million was spent by super PACs on independent … Continue reading
The National Debt: Ranking the Presidents
In the first part of this series on the history of the national debt, we looked at what factors caused the national debt to grow or shrink in the short-term. This week, we will take a step back and focus on how successive presidential administrations have affected the national debt over time. As we discovered … Continue reading
Friends, Not Foes
In 1952, Justice Robert H. Jackson, in his opinion on Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v Sawyer, also known as the Steel Seizure Case, stated, “When the president acts pursuant to an express or an implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own … Continue reading
The National Debt: Factors Contributing to Growth and Decline
Our elections may be over, but our growing national debt remains. It is also approaching unprecedented levels—last year, it exceeded 100% of GDP for only the fourth time in history. The other three times were during World War II, when we were fighting a war on all seven continents. Yet the economy is recovering from … Continue reading
The Minority Report: Rectifying the GOP’s Struggles with Minorities
“When Newt dropped out of the race and Mitt Romney became the nominee, we decided to support Mitt Romney,” said a statement by Café Con Leche, a Republican organization that favors comprehensive immigration reform. “Numerous attempts to connect with the Romney campaign’s Hispanic outreach proved fruitless. In our one year of existence, we’ve also had … Continue reading
Why Should America Explore Space?
Few people lack an opinion on “what” the NASA should be doing. But even fewer have tried to answer the overarching question of “why” we would want to invest considerable resources in exploring our extraterrestrial neighborhood. Yet a comprehensive answer may be the key to reviving the struggling space program. This week, the George C. … Continue reading
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