Amid the Trumps and Johnsons of the world, can “traditional” politicians still compete for power? This is where the anti-celebrity politician comes in. Dressing and behaving inconspicuously, and ostensibly lacking media savviness, the anti-celebrity politician embodies the opposite qualities to celebrity stardom. He or she avoids the limelight, and flourishes when fatigue with celebrity figures sets in.
Commentary
When Students Attack Teachers
Interviews with 50 teachers from urban and suburban high schools who were threatened or attacked by a student suggest that in light of the constant threat of violence against schoolteachers, the adequacy of current security measures – or lack thereof – are ripe for review.
Antarctica’s Ice Sheet Collapse Is Still Preventable. Barely.
In West Antarctica, the interior of the ice sheet sits atop bedrock that lies well below sea level. As the Southern Ocean warms, scientists are concerned the ice sheet will continue to retreat, potentially raising sea level by several meters.
The Freedom to Vote Act Is No ‘Compromise.’ It’s an Imperative.
The Freedom to Vote Act was introduced in the Senate as the successor to the For the People Act, which was shot down twice by Republican filibusters. The new act, which has the support of all 50 Democrats in the Senate, is sometimes described as a “compromise bill,” but let’s be clear: The bill is no compromise when it comes to essential protections for voting rights.
Bisexual Superman: A Subtext Finally, Happily Out of the Closet
Son of Kal-El will be out this November, and will feature Jon sharing a kiss with friend and online journalist Jay Nakamura. Apart from proving Superman has always had a thing for reporters, Jon expressing his sexuality is a watershed moment in the venerable franchise.
Do Unbiased Jurors Exist in Social Media Age Anymore?
It’s a fundamental question for this era: Is it possible to find unbiased citizens to serve on a jury in high-profile cases during an age of ubiquitous social media? The dilemma facing the Supreme Court is how prescriptive they want the voir dire process to be. It could issue an opinion requiring lower courts to ask jurors more penetrating questions about their exposure to media accounts in high-profile cases.
No, Immigrants Don’t Reduce Natives’ Wages
Nobel Prize winner David Card combined a clever technique with data generated by a unique historical event to credibly answer how large-scale immigration from a poor country affects the wages of native-born citizens. It doesn’t hurt those wages.
Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism: Just Another Day at the NFL
The NFL’s Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen arrogantly believed that their comments would not enter into the public domain. Truth be told, they had ample reason to believe such a possible reality. For more than a decade the NFL gave them free rein to engage in such perverted, hyper levels of toxic masculinity.
What’s Behind All Those Empty Shelves in Stores
There are four primary – and interrelated – reasons for the continuing supply chain crunch, which won’t be resolved by the holidays: soaring consumer demand, a labor shortage, a shipping container shortage, and clogged ports.
On Refugees, Joe Biden Should Emulate Canada: Go Big
The capacity of private American citizens to resettle refugees is large and untapped. It may even bridge the divide over immigration in the United States. Now is the time for Biden to ask the American people to invite homeless and war-ravaged Afghan refugees into their homes and their communities.
We’re Finally Decreasing Child Poverty. Let’s Not Blow It.
Expanded Child Tax Credit payments led to “a notable drop in child poverty” after just the first month. The U.S. Census Bureau also found that after just one month, food insecurity among vulnerable families dropped significantly, and families receiving checks also had less difficulty paying for weekly expenses.
Why It’s Time to Replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
Since the 1990s, a growing number of states have begun to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day – a holiday meant to honor the culture and history of the people living in the Americas both before and after Columbus’ arrival.
The Nobels: Maria Ressa Speaks Blogging to Power
The importance of journalists who take considerable risks to bring people the truth in countries where this involves going up against authoritarian governments has been recognized by the Nobel committee’s decision to award the 2021 peace prize to Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia.
The Nobels: Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Man and his Writing
Abdulrazak Gurnah is one of the most important contemporary postcolonial novelists writing in Britain today and is the first Black African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature since Wole Soyinka in 1986. Gurnah is also the first Tanzanian writer to win.
Biden Restores Protection for National Monuments Trump Shrank
On Oct. 7, 2021, the Interior Department announced that President Biden was restoring protection for three U.S. national monuments that the Trump administration sought to shrink drastically: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts in the Atlantic Ocean. President Trump’s 2017 orders downsizing these monuments, originally created by previous administrations, ignited debate over whether such action was legal.
Journalism Wins
It is revealing that in a year that drew 329 candidates for the peace prize, including organizations fighting climate change or covid 19, the committee opted for journalists. It’s a happy surprise for us reporters. It’s also, finally, a necessary one.
How Facebook’s ‘Dangerous’ Algorithms Can Manipulate You
Social media platforms rely heavily on people’s behavior to decide on the content that you see. In particular, they watch for content that people respond to or “engage” with by liking, commenting and sharing. Troll farms, organizations that spread provocative content, exploit this by copying high-engagement content and posting it as their own, which helps them reach a wide audience.
Should You Have to Conceal Your Gun? Supreme Court May Soon Say No.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, expected by mid-2022, could declare a New York state restriction on carrying concealed handguns in public places unconstitutional. Such a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, which include a National Rifle Association affiliate, could loosen gun regulations in many parts of the country.
The Brutal Slave Trade Within the US Has Been Largely Whitewashed Out of History
Slavery still conjures images of Southern farms and plantations. But the institution was grounded in the sales of nearly 2 million human beings in the domestic slave trade, the profits from which nurtured the economy of the entire country.
Will Democrats Get Their Act Together?
This is not the New Deal or Great Society era, when Democrats had power in numbers. The current era requires “an honest embrace of what the politics of the moment will accept,” if only to prevent a return of the cult that doesn’t give two figs about governing.
The Dishonesties of Cherry-Picking Bible Verses
Many Bible verses are being lifted out of context and repurposed to buttress the anti-vaccine movement. Such shallow reading in service of political and cultural agendas has long been a fixture of evangelical Christianity.
Sex Trafficking Isn’t What You Think: 4 Myths Debunked
Law enforcement, medical providers, case managers, victim advocates and immigration lawyers inconsistently define and apply the label “trafficking victim” – especially when it comes to sex trafficking. That makes it harder for these professionals to get trafficked people the help they request.
The Lie About Border Patrol Agents Whipping Haitians
There are no photos of agents whipping migrants. Nor is there any video, in an age when there’s video of everything. The photographer, Paul Ratje, who took the controversial images to which the president and his acolytes refer, told KTSM TV in El Paso that he never saw agents whipping anyone.
Pot Products Are Being Sold as Sleeping Aids. Do They Help?
As with many issues in research, there isn’t a neat answer to how effective cannabis is in improving sleep. How the drug is prepared, the way it’s taken and the person’s expectations are just some important factors that may influence the outcome. And, as with all health products, there is a risk of side-effects.
Supreme Court’s Docket: Guns, Abortion, Religion
The biggest case this year is a challenge to abortion rights. Several states are asking the justices to reconsider Roe v. Wade – the landmark 1973 ruling that established the constitutional right for a woman to terminate a pregnancy, regardless of the moral beliefs of other citizens.
Why is the Flagler County Commission Holding New School Construction Hostage?
Pandering to home builders, the Flagler County Commission is rashly scuttling the school district’s plan to double impact fees on new construction for the first time since 2005, even though the county is doubling its own impact fees. It’s an unjustified and hypocritical assault on district planning and future student needs.
Why Charter Schools Are Not as ‘Public’ as They Claim to Be
Charter schools are not as accessible to the public as they are often made out to be. This finding is particularly relevant in light of the fact that charter school enrollment reportedly grew by 7 percent during the pandemic. Here are four examples of how charters bring certain types of students in and push other kinds of students out.
‘Thrifty Food Plan’ Update Enables Long-Overdue Food Stamps Benefit Increase
An unprecedented update of the Thrifty Food Plan – an estimate of the minimum cost of groceries to meet a family’s needs–is behind the largest-ever permanent increase in benefits and puts a healthier diet within reach for the 42 million Americans enrolled in SNAP, which replaced food stamps.
The Supreme Court’s Immense Power May Be Its Achilles’ Heel
That immense power of the Supreme Court has arguably made the court a leading player in enacting policy in the U.S. It may also cause the loss of the court’s legitimacy, which can be defined as popular acceptance of a government, political regime or system of governance.
Is It Autumn for the First Amendment?
Freedom of speech has long been the very foundation of our country, but a majority of Americans are now afraid to exercise it. That sad fact has become the new normal in America. And that’s a lot more frightening than the scariest haunted house anyone will enter this autumn.
The Sharpest Murder Spike in 61 Years of Record-Keeping: What Happened?
Homicides in the U.S. spiked by almost 30% in 2020. The fact that big cities, small cities, suburbs and rural areas – in both blue and red states – experienced similar increases in homicides suggests that nationwide events or trends were behind the rise. what happened in 2020 was a confluence of events that created the perfect conditions for a spike in murders.
Alien Future: How Warming Climate May Create an Unrecognizable World
A team of scientists’ climate projections for 2500 show an Earth that is alien to humans. Heat stress may reach fatal levels for humans in tropical regions which are currently highly populated. Such areas might become uninhabitable. Even under high-mitigation scenarios, we found that sea level keeps rising due to expanding and mixing water in warming oceans.
Hunger in 2020 Sharply Affected Even Middle-Class Americans
Americans in households with annual incomes from $50,000 to $75,000 experienced the sharpest increase in food insufficiency when the COVID-19 pandemic began – meaning that many people in the middle class didn’t have enough to eat at some point within the previous seven days.
Committee Week in Florida’s Capitol: Welcome to the Festival of Ignorance
Legislators came to town for the autumn ritual of political harlotry they call “committee week.” Tallahassee’s collective IQ dropped by a good 60 points. That’s bad, but what they propose doing to Florida is worse. Diane Roberts reports.
How Conservative Comic Greg Gutfeld Became King of Late Night
Greg Gutfeld’s success might come as a shock because it punctures long-standing assumptions about what comedy is, who can produce it and who will enjoy it. These prejudices obscure an important truth: Right-wing comedy has become both a viable business strategy and a crucial element of conservative politics.
47 Million Americans Think Biden Is ‘Illegitimate.’ 21 Support Violence to ‘Restore’ Trump
The survey found that many of these 21 million people with insurrectionist sentiments have the capacity for violent mobilization. At least 7 million of them already own a gun, and at least 3 million have served in the U.S. military and so have lethal skills. Of those 21 million, 6 million said they supported right-wing militias and extremist groups, and 1 million said they are themselves or personally know a member of such a group, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
Stop Yelling. Have a Point: Advice for School Board Meeting Disrupters from Someone Who’s Been There.
In the wake of two turbulent school board meetings, Randall Bertrand was left wondering what all the sound and fury was about since many speakers’ loud and disruptive message was already made moot by school board votes or state policy.
Evidence Shows That, Yes, Masks Prevent Covid, and Surgical Masks Are the Way To Go
The largest randomized controlled trial to date testing the effectiveness of mask-wearing provides gold-standard evidence that confirms previous research: Wearing masks, particularly surgical masks, prevents covid-19.
The Connection Between Containers and Your Missing Christmas Presents
An estimated 90 percent of the world’s goods are transported by sea, with 60 percent of that – including virtually all your imported fruits, gadgets and appliances – packed in large steel containers. Without the standardized container, the global supply chain that society depends upon – and that I study – would not exist.
New Treatments Staving Off the Worst of Covid
For hospitalized covid-19 patients, these new treatments, along with supportive care advances – such as placing some patients on their stomachs in a “prone position” – were helping bring down mortality rates before the Delta variant hit and are continuing to improve patient outcomes today.
Arbor Day Post-Mortem: One-Third of the World’s Tree Species Face Extinction
One in three of the world’s tree species are at risk of becoming extinct. More than 400 species have fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild, and 142 tree species are already extinct. Human activity is the overwhelming culprit, especially forest clearance for farming, logging for timber and the spread of invasive pests and diseases.
Democrats’ Tax-the-Rich Plan Isn’t Fixing the Slide from Progressive Taxation
The progressivity of the U.S. tax system has dramatically declined over the past seven decades. The upshot is that for most income levels the U.S. tax system now resembles a flat tax that becomes regressive at the very top end, meaning the super-rich pay proportionately less.
Half the World Is Waiting for Its 1st Covid Shot. You’re Getting Your 3rd. You’re OK With That?
Of the 5.76 billion doses of vaccine that have been administered globally, only 1.9% went to people in low-income countries. Meanwhile, many wealthy countries have begun offering COVID-19 boosters to fully vaccinated, healthy adults.
End the Offensive Discrimination Against Workers: Yes to Commercial Vehicles in Palm Coast Driveways
Palm Coast’s prohibition against small, van-size commercial vehicles in residential driveways is outdated and discriminatory, especially targeting blue-collar workers while refusing to recognize the vastly changing geography of work. This isn’t a majority vote issue. It’s a workers’ rights issue.
Facebook Has Known of Instagram’s Documented Harm to Teens for Years
Facebook officials had internal research in March 2020 showing that Instagram – the social media platform most used by adolescents – is harmful to teen girls’ body image and well-being but swept those findings under the rug to continue conducting business as usual.
What the Expanded Child Tax Credit Means to Me
The expanded child tax credit is on track to lift half of all kids living in poverty out of it. That will help them lead safer, happier lives well into adulthood. If we have the political will, we can make more smart economic choices like these to give all children a safe and secure childhood, writes the author.
Insurrection 2.0? Capitol Police Prepares for Lawbreakers’ Bacchanal.
A rally in Washington, slated for Sept. 18, 2021, is being billed as an effort to support people who face criminal charges for their involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
When Forceful Vaccine Messaging Backfires
A fevered pitch in vaccine messaging may make the holdouts even more resistant. The direct, blunt messages to go get vaccinated that worked on three-quarters of Americans may not work for the remaining one-quarter. Some health communication techniques work more effectively than others depending on the audience.
Texas Unleashes Bounty Hunters on Women
A Texas law deputizes ordinary citizens to hunt down and sue anyone who helps a woman defy the ban (e.g. clinic staff, taxi drivers, someone who provided money for the procedure) with a minimum payoff of $10,000 if they’re successful.
Texas Rebirths Jim Crow Tactics in Vigilantism-Enabling Abortion Law
The new Texas law that bans most abortions uses a method employed by Texas and other states to enforce racist Jim Crow laws in the 19th and 20th centuries that aimed to disenfranchise African Americans.