The last wave of midterms has finally rolled on, so now it’s time to focus on the important stuff: Halloween costumes and tomorrow’s game against Missouri. But first, a PSA: To all you overzealous autumn-lovers wearing sweaters and scarves, cease and desist. If you keep wearing sweaters during 89-degree weather like today, you WILL get heat stroke. And die.
Here it is: Your middle-of-the-semester-mental-breakdown edition of Darts & Laurels.
The government reopened yesterday, but don’t call it a comeback. According to the Washington Post, “The bill passed late Wednesday ended a stalemate created last month, when hard-line conservatives pushed Republican leaders to use the threat of shutdown to block a landmark expansion of federally funded health coverage.”
Congratulations, Republicans: You accomplished absolutely nothing — that is, other than the furlough of federal workers and a shutdown that cost the U.S. as much as NASA’s budget. Thank God the panda cam is back on, at least. The biggest DART of all time to the GOP for bending to the will of party extremists, damaging the economy and diminishing the U.S.’s credibility abroad.
You’ll be happy to know that in some corners of the world people are fighting for a common cause and refusing to become mired in political nonsense. This week, we give a LAUREL to the Green Sisters, a group of Roman-Catholic nuns from a variety of orders who are as well-versed in the Gospels of Luke and John as they are in solar and geothermal technology.
According to The Atlantic: “‘The Judeo-Christian tradition is so beautiful, and it has such wisdom, but it doesn’t have a lot to say about fracking,’ Miriam MacGillis, a Dominican sister in her mid-seventies, said.”
This week, a workplace-harassment case received national attention when a woman in New York filed a lawsuit against the company she formerly interned for. The judge presiding over her case said that, because she wasn’t receiving compensation, she had no right to sue because she wasn’t technically an employee.
While some are criticizing the judge, professors at UF told the Alligator this week that the judge’s decision wasn’t wholly invalid.
“I don’t think it’s surprising given the statute and the legislation,” Robert Emerson, a professor in the UF business school, said. “A lot of judges are reluctant to craft remedies or rights that go beyond the literal wording of a statute or regulation. They feel like that’s not their role.”
Given the importance of unpaid internships for gaining real-life skills and establishing industry connections and professional relationships, there’s a clear need for better legislation regarding sexual-harassment suits. This week, we DART state Human Rights Laws for failing to extend protection to unpaid interns.
Our last LAUREL goes to the Kitten Cam at Petopia for reminding us that, despite Gainesville’s finicky weather and those inevitable mid-October stress migraines, cuteness exists at just a click away.
Happy Friday!
A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 10/18/2013 under the headline "Darts & Laurels"
