Posts in Columns
Rewriting the Past: The Return of Confederate Monuments Under Trump
Rewriting the Past: The Return of Confederate Monuments Under Trump

By honoring disgraced figures like Albert Pike while silencing the stories of historically marginalized groups, Trump intends to alter the story of the United States into a nation that is based on nostalgia for a glamorized past, rather than accountability. The administration’s campaign to “restore truth and sanity” risks normalizing an idealized version of history that completely erases the oppression of marginalized groups and distorts the legacy of those who fought for freedom and equality for all Americans.

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Columns, Opinion, Editor's PicksKhadija MohammedConfederacy, Monuments, Trump ConfederateComment
Ten Years Later, America Doesn’t Need to Revisit the Marriage Debate
Ten Years Later, America Doesn’t Need to Revisit the Marriage Debate

On November 7th, the Supreme Court will privately decide whether to hear the appeal of former Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015 after the Court’s landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. But after nearly a decade of Obergefell, the Court’s consideration of Davis’ case threatens to reopen a battle that many Americans had already considered resolved. Revisiting or weakening Obergefell would not only destabilize the progress America has made but also erode the very principle of equal justice under the law.

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Columns, OpinionJessica HightObergefell, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Gay MarriageComment
AI Regulations: In Preparation for the Rubicon
AI Regulations: In Preparation for the Rubicon

International cooperation is a must to avoid a nuclear-arms-esque race to the bottom of AI regulations, or an “AI Non-Proliferation Treaty,” if you will. History has shown that whenever a technological advancement has the potential to cause harm, it often does. Recognizing the veritable downsides of AI can help the world get ahead of the eight-ball, maximize the merits of innovation, and mitigate the perils.

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Columns, OpinionVincent GeorgeAI, AI Regulations, Sora2, OpenAIComment
Foreign Aid: An Ever-Failing Yet Highly Valuable Quest
Foreign Aid: An Ever-Failing Yet Highly Valuable Quest

Foreign aid remains a lifeline for many countries in the Global South that rely on external help to cover basic human needs such as clean water, food, and healthcare, that are often subject to violent conflict. But despite its imperfections, foreign aid remains one of humanity’s most meaningful collective actions against the ills in the world.

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Columns, OpinionShahid S. KhanUN, UNHDR, UN Sustainable Development, International Relations Comment
Pomp and Not Much Circumstance: The Bewildering Quantico Military Summit
Pomp and Not Much Circumstance: The Bewildering Quantico Military Summit

On September 30th, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a sudden and politically charged address to hundreds of U.S generals and admirals who were summoned to Virginia at the Marine Corps Base, Quantico. The President and Defense Secretary took the opportunity to press their views upon the military’s finest, calling for the destruction of “woke” ideology within the barracks, ending “decades of decay”, and even eliminating “fat troops” from the forces…. This bombastic address from the Trump Administration certainly has consequences, unintended or not, because President Trump is not following tradition. Such action raises eyebrows regarding the line between military professionalism and civil politics…

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Columns, Editor's Picks, OpinionRobert StaresinicHegseth, Trump, ArmyComment
A Win For Mamdani is A Win Against Elitism
A Win For Mamdani is A Win Against Elitism

On Tuesday night, Zohran Mamdani made history as New York City’s first Muslim Mayor. Over the past year, the 34-year-old self-proclaimed democratic socialist has taken the city’s mayoral race by storm, making it abundantly clear throughout his campaign that he’s planning to fight for the economic prosperity of the working and middle class. Mamdani’s anti-elitist agenda sparked rare bipartisan efforts to contain his rise–showing how powerful this win is. Mamdani’s New York City victory signals what’s ahead for America and the Democratic Party: a future increasingly shaped by socialism.

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Columns, OpinionHannah MerrittMamdani, Zohran Mamdani, NY Mayor Race, NYC Mayor, New York CityComment
Us vs Them: American Partisanship is Triggering an Ideological Civil War
Us vs Them: American Partisanship is Triggering an Ideological Civil War

With America in its most intense era of partisan opposition, a government shutdown has prevented important government tasks from being completed. Furthermore, the shutdown is being used as a tool for the advancement of political agendas, with debates over the Epstein files and the swearing-in of House Representative Elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) continuing to arise, despite the budget being the most dire issue at this time.

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Columns, OpinionGabriella LaughlinPolarization, Shutdown, Government Shutdown, Trump Shutdown, Speaker Johnson Comment
A Misguided War: Trump’s Strikes Miss the Real Source of America’s Fentanyl Crisis
A Misguided War: Trump’s Strikes Miss the Real Source of America’s Fentanyl Crisis

Over the course of the last month, the United States military has launched at least five strikes on drug ships, targeting alleged ‘narco-terrorists” in Venezuela and the Caribbean. By blurring the line between counter-narcotics policy and political theater, Trump risks igniting instability across the Caribbean while leaving the real domestic fentanyl crisis unaddressed.

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Columns, Opinion, Editor's PicksSamantha RoseHegseth, Department of War, Trump, Venezuela, Narcotics, Narco-terrorists, FentanylComment
Trump’s H-1B Crackdown: How a $100,000 Fee Will Reshape Legal Immigration
Trump’s H-1B Crackdown: How a $100,000 Fee Will Reshape Legal Immigration

On September 19th, President Trump signed a proclamation that fundamentally undermines the structure of the H-1B visa program in the United States. The update that caught the most attention was the additional $100,000 fee for all new H-1B visa petitions, which, along with other changes, sparked rightful outrage about the future of legal immigration to the United States.

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Opinion, Columns, Editor's PicksAllie LynchImmigration, H1-B, Visas, Trump Immigration, Student VisasComment
Gaza Peace Deal: A Withered, Freshly-Gilded Olive Branch
Gaza Peace Deal: A Withered, Freshly-Gilded Olive Branch

The Oslo Accords stated that Palestine could have “5-year interim self-rule, to be followed by talks on permanent status issues.” Trump's deal stipulates, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.” In other words, a Palestinian state could, maybe, potentially, possibly be recognized soon, later, and sometime in the future. In other words, it’s highly unlikely.

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Columns, OpinionVincent GeorgeTrump, Netanyahu, Israel-Hamas War, Palestine Comments
Trump’s Latest Attack on the Media
Trump’s Latest Attack on the Media

Enshrined in the Bill of Rights in 1791, the First Amendment guarantees fundamental freedoms—speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition—ensuring Americans can express opinions and challenge authority without fear of government retaliation. From Trump’s defamation suit against The New York Times to the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s show, the president’s targeting of media figures signals a troubling attempt to erode press freedom and the First Amendment.

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Columns, OpinionKyla Sheedy-Gofftrump, Free Speech, DemocracyComment
Donald Trump Wants to Make Broadcast Television Great Again- by Canceling Every Host Who Talks Bad About Him
Donald Trump Wants to Make Broadcast Television Great Again- by Canceling Every Host Who Talks Bad About Him

Jimmy Kimmel Live! became the latest target of Trump’s media suppression campaign after Kimmel’s September 15th monologue, where he associated Trump’s ‘MAGA’ movement with political violence. Many Americans wonder: how far will Trump go to suppress left-leaning media and is a president’s influence on the media constitutional?

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Editor's Picks, Columns, OpinionHannah MerrittTrump, Free Speech, Gun Laws, Trump Administration, ColumnsComment