Opinion | Columns - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

Israel does care

Apr. 14, 2015

The 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 | COLUMNS

New emojis finally acknowledge life’s diversity

Apr. 14, 2015

Apple 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 | COLUMNS

Time to stop justifying discrimination with religion

Apr. 13, 2015

Last 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 | COLUMNS

Water belongs to people, not companies

Apr. 13, 2015

As 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 | COLUMNS

America needs tax reform, and we need it now

Apr. 12, 2015

Tax 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 | COLUMNS

Women are too easily influenced by societal norms in their quest for perfection despite improvements

Apr. 12, 2015

Society has transformed minimally when it comes to women’s rights.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Gov. Scott’s Medicaid reversal puts politics ahead of Florida

Apr. 9, 2015

In 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 | COLUMNS

Considering sex comment cards, and why communication is so important

Apr. 9, 2015

I’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 | COLUMNS

Republicans need to adapt or become irrelevant

Apr. 8, 2015

If 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 | COLUMNS

HB 583 discriminatory, based on archaic reasoning

Apr. 7, 2015

Florida rarely ceases to surprise the nation with new levels of absurdity.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Budget cuts don’t belong in the grocery store

Apr. 7, 2015

I’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 | COLUMNS

Too much texting hinders real-life connections

Apr. 6, 2015

This 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 | COLUMNS

Indiana miscarriage case and feticide law unjust for convicted, setback to women's body rights

Apr. 6, 2015

On March 30, Indiana native Purvi Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she miscarried her pregnancy.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Long road to LGBTQ+ equality demonstrated by Florida's trans bathroom bill

Apr. 6, 2015

There’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 | COLUMNS

Rand Paul: the presidential candidate GOP needs

Apr. 5, 2015

According 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.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Cutting higher education budget not the answer

Apr. 2, 2015

Over the past decade, higher education has gone through what some might consider a period of austerity. As state revenues declined, public education budgets at every level were put on the chopping block. Public education consumes the most sizable portion of a state’s budget, so it’s not altogether surprising schools had to tighten their belts during the recession. With that in mind, it was flabbergasting to discover the Louisiana Legislature’s budget for next year might cut Louisiana State University’s budget by 82 percent.

OPINION | COLUMNS

A story of survival: Sexual assault is never your fault and other lessons learned

Apr. 2, 2015

On Feb. 22, 2013, I wore a cream dress that I borrowed from my floormate. On Feb. 22, 2013, I went to a beach-side bar in Daytona. On Feb. 22, 2013, I was sexually assaulted.

OPINION | COLUMNS

April Fools’ Day is, while time-honored, antithetical to comedy

Apr. 2, 2015

April Fools’ Day is a time-honored, celebrated tradition of corny jokes, physical pranks and trying to subtly wrap cellophane over your roommate’s toilet bowl. April Fools’ Day is, like many American holidays, an informal celebration of some of our lamest attributes — like our fondness for played-out physical gags or gullibly clicking on obviously fake news stories.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Evangelical voters may decide fate of 2016 election

Apr. 1, 2015

In order to win an election, a campaign has to mobilize voters. The best way to mobilize voters is to go after galvanized and organized groups of constituents.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Can FEMA get Gov. Scott to believe in global warming?

Mar. 31, 2015

Recently, Bryan Koon, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, tried to discuss climate change at a Senate budget meeting. However, there was one stipulation he had to follow: He could not use the term “climate change.”