For many, the new year means new goals, routines or mindsets. This collective moment of change with resolutions, despite its short-lived reputation, still has importance in a distracted world.
In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed more than $32 million in arts funding across Florida, which shocked arts producers and enthusiasts alike. This was a terrible move by the state government. To me, arts and cultural events offered by the City of Gainesville and Alachua County are quality-of-life programming.
After Donald Trump’s stunning win over Kamala Harris in both the popular vote and electoral college, cranks have lined up to offer their hot-take-masquerading-as-diagnosis for why Democrats underperformed in 2024. Some have pinned the blame on “wokeness,” claiming that Democrats going to bat for the rights of transgender people placed them in a bad position against an increasingly right-wing American population. Pronouns, “latinx” and defunding the police, according to these pundits, cost Harris the election.
In 1815, Napoleon escaped exile on Elba and landed in France to reclaim his empire. Marching through France and drawing thousands to his side, support swelled, and King Louis XVIII fled in fear. Within weeks, he entered Paris as emperor once more, setting the stage for his final stand at Waterloo. As President Trump wins this election, we welcome back our emperor to America and we enter our golden age.
In the 1970s, the Department of Defense endorsed the usage of Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) as a fire suppressant without recognizing the toxic nature of its active ingredients known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Chronic exposure to these chemicals significantly increases the risk of cancer, reproductive issues, and liver damage, among other serious health effects. Military personnel and veterans have historically performed their duties without protection from PFAS exposure, prompting the introduction of the Veterans Exposed to Toxic (VET) PFAS Act in July 2023.
Election day, Nov. 5, will be the central event that will forecast American policy for the next four years. In the past month, Donald Trump's and Kamala Harris' campaigns have gone full throttle in convincing the American public why they should stay with the status quo or go back to old policies through Trump's executive hand. Before you go out and cast your ballot, please consider these points.
In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis made national headlines when he created the Office of Election Crimes and Security, a so-called “election police” force designed to investigate and prosecute alleged voter fraud. The timing was no coincidence. As DeSantis cemented his political ambitions and positioned himself for a presidential run, he needed to appeal to a specific base. In creating this office, DeSantis wasn't protecting democracy — he was pandering to conspiracy theorists and sowing doubt in the electoral process, all while laying the groundwork for voter intimidation and going after petitions and amendments to please his voters. And now, in 2024, we are seeing the full, dangerous impact of this move.
However, DeSantis’s brand of climate change denial is not merely about rejecting science but perpetuating cruelty.
So why are so many young white men attracted to the conservative ideology? It’s because they have been lied to over and over again. Young men were told growing up to suppress their masculinity in a world that hates men. They were promised a future like their fathers and grandfathers had. But that future does not exist anymore.
While I’ve long since recovered from the realization of my involvement in our country's ensuing downfall, I realize that if we look at the current situation of men in our country and the rise of young male conservatism, we begin to see a pattern.
This political season, like many before it, has no shortage of acrimony and division. Some prominent candidates inspire equally passionate devotion from their supporters and loathing from their critics – here among our UF community just as across the rest of our nation.
Among Peace Corps volunteers, we often say our service is “the toughest job you’ll ever love.”
My time in the senate chamber has been nothing short of disappointing. I hate politics. I am someone who prioritizes communication above all, and yet every time I worked on a piece of legislation, or went to a senate meeting, I saw nothing productive being done for the students.
Political machinery has a long history in UF SG, dating all the way back to its beginning. SG began in the summer of 1915 but in only a few years, a group of students conspired to monopolize its levers of power.
Solutions by The State News
