OPINION
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COLUMNS
Final senior thoughts: Be kind and speak your mind
Apr. 20, 2015Well, this is it.
Opinion | Columns
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Anti-immigration attitude in Europe costing lives
Apr. 19, 2015A boat laden with up to 950 people capsized in the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday. Its passengers were migrants bound for Europe escaping the limited opportunities, war and chaos of their home countries. The ship left from Libya, a failed state which has descended into civil war, where ISIS executes people on the beach. Who can blame them for wanting to leave?
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Federal intervention in education is failing our kids
Apr. 19, 2015Denisha Merriweather recently wrote about her schooling experience in The Wall Street Journal. She was in fourth grade, and she hated school. She was held back twice, disliked going to school and thought she would end up as a high school dropout. She grew up with her biological mother but moved around a lot, which took a heavy toll on her grades and enthusiasm for learning. In her own words, “learning had become a nightmare — a punishment for being a child.” Denisha’s story is not a unique one. Unfortunately, there are kids in all 50 states who resent education. Some of these negative frameworks are out of the government’s control, but I would argue most of it is due to an educational system stuck in the 20th century and bogged down by bureaucracy. We all know education reform is desperately needed, but no one, especially our elected officials, is ever willing to confront the problem.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Let’s end pseudoscience hysteria
Apr. 19, 2015When even Elmo supports vaccination, it’s hard to believe there are people out there who are so vehemently against it. Since “Sesame Street” is a show that strives to remain inclusive and neutral, something would have to have a pretty strong scientific consensus in order for Elmo to outright endorse it.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Happy graduation: your college sex bucket list
Apr. 16, 2015It’s finally here — the last real Friday of the semester. Your last Friday to skip classes before you head off to a beach somewhere, to more classrooms for Summer C, or even worse — to the real world.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Israel does care
Apr. 14, 2015The effects of war are undoubtedly tragic. Loss of life, regardless of any affiliating identity, is always devastating. Mothers weep for their sons; sons weep for their mothers. Fathers fear for their daughters; daughters fear for their fathers. We all cry the same tears. We all bleed the same blood. My flesh is his flesh, and his mine. I feel profound empathy for the pain people feel, for the grief the Israeli-Palestinian conflict causes on a daily basis, to both Israelis and Palestinians.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
New emojis finally acknowledge life’s diversity
Apr. 14, 2015Apple released its newest operating system, iOS 8.3, last Wednesday. Among plenty of updates, Siri is now capable of calling someone on speakerphone, and Braille Screen Input users can fill out forms on Web pages. The most obvious update, however, is Apple’s introduction of more than 300 inclusive emojis.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Time to stop justifying discrimination with religion
Apr. 13, 2015Last Thursday, The New York Times published an article about Orthodox Jewish men refusing to sit next to women they are not related to when boarding planes. This raises the question: At what point does one person’s religious freedom end and another’s basic rights begin?
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Water belongs to people, not companies
Apr. 13, 2015As California scrambles to conserve water during a historic drought, one multinational company is continuing to take huge gulps of the state’s water for profit. Nestle Waters North America, a subsidiary of food and beverage company Nestle, has been tapping California’s groundwater to sell in plastic bottles for its Arrowhead and Pure Life brands.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
America needs tax reform, and we need it now
Apr. 12, 2015Tax Day is upon us, providing us another example of how overbearing and complicated our government truly is. April 15 is the deadline every year when every citizen must hesitantly file his or her taxes or face the wrath of the uncontrollable Internal Revenue Service. The tax code has become quite a monstrosity over the past few decades. It is riddled with all kinds of loopholes and deductions for corporations and wealthy people to take advantage of, leaving the middle class stuck with the bill.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Women are too easily influenced by societal norms in their quest for perfection despite improvements
Apr. 12, 2015Society has transformed minimally when it comes to women’s rights.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Gov. Scott’s Medicaid reversal puts politics ahead of Florida
Apr. 9, 2015In a decision that should shock no one, Gov. Rick Scott reversed his decision to support expanding Medicaid to nearly 1 million Floridians this week. Scott supported expansion for two years but suddenly reversed course, leaving those who cannot afford insurance or do not qualify for the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits in a serious bind.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Considering sex comment cards, and why communication is so important
Apr. 9, 2015I’m going to let you in on a secret. Little black books are outdated in the digital age. So, for record-keeping purposes, I keep a Word document that lists all the people I’ve ever hooked up with.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Republicans need to adapt or become irrelevant
Apr. 8, 2015If the events of last week told us anything, it’s that Republicans are behind the times. A great illustration of this was when Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana was shocked over the backlash of his state’s religious liberty law. Any casual political observer could see that Indiana was playing with fire.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
HB 583 discriminatory, based on archaic reasoning
Apr. 7, 2015Florida rarely ceases to surprise the nation with new levels of absurdity.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Budget cuts don’t belong in the grocery store
Apr. 7, 2015I’m sure you’ve been told not to bite the hand that feeds you, but what do you do if that hand is trying everything in its power to stop feeding you? What if it is, instead, reorganizing its fingers to point at you and then scrutinizing and stigmatizing you? That’s the predicament in which low-income Americans who rely on modern-day food stamps are finding themselves. In recent years, states across the country have desperately tried to strip low-income families of the food security federal support provides, and it needs to stop.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Too much texting hinders real-life connections
Apr. 6, 2015This weekend I was watching “Catfish,” a popular MTV series that brings together couples who have never seen each other face to face. In the episode, 22-year-old Daisy expressed doubt over the legitimacy of a guy she met on Instagram and had been in touch with for the past few years.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Indiana miscarriage case and feticide law unjust for convicted, setback to women's body rights
Apr. 6, 2015On March 30, Indiana native Purvi Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she miscarried her pregnancy.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Long road to LGBTQ+ equality demonstrated by Florida's trans bathroom bill
Apr. 6, 2015There’s a common misconception that once marriage equality becomes a national standard, the struggle the LGBTQ+ community faces will be over. But as the bills emulating the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act in Indiana and Arkansas show, discrimination of LGBTQ+ people goes way beyond their ability to marry and extends to denial of service.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Rand Paul: the presidential candidate GOP needs
Apr. 5, 2015According to many news sources, Sen. Rand Paul will be announcing his candidacy for president Tuesday and will then engage in a five-state, five-day announcement tour. Paul, who is the son of former Congressman Dr. Ron Paul, is an ophthalmologist-turned-politician who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and has not been one to shy away from controversy. While many Republicans go with the flow of the Grand Old Party and often do not hesitate to inflate the deficit or ignore major problems, Paul has been one of the few shining stars of the party. He addresses the concerns of middle-class Americans, and his commitment to libertarian conservatism and advancing liberty makes him stand out from the crowd.
