Gift giving during the holiday season is a tradition. But have we taken it too far? (Pexels) The day after Thanksgiving, more commonly known as Black Friday, kicks off the holiday shopping specials in spectacular fashion. Hordes crowd into popular department stores at two in the morning, just searching for those perfect deals. And I…

(Courtesy/The Blue Diamond Gallery) Exams! Talking with your friends about how much you studied over the past week, how tired you are and how badly you’ll do on the upcoming mid-terms doesn’t benefit anyone involved. Although students’ sleep levels can run low during this time of the year, there’s no need to turn these factors…

Voter fraud paranoia has swept over the nation. (Tom Bullock/Wikimedia Commons) Citing a Pew Research figure showing 70% of Americans are confident in US election security, The Hill proclaimed on Tuesday, November 19, that there is “a high level of confidence in the American electoral system.” Really? Since when is 70% a high or even…

Recent investigations fuel controversy regarding who gets through Harvard’s gates. (Flickr) I sit at the dinner table with my family one rainy evening, talking about my college applications. We decide to leave all socio-economic information blank, in an effort to conceal my racial identity. I pessimistically note that my middle names are a red flag…

Not all people who plug products on Instagram have big follower numbers. (Wikimedia Commons) You can’t open your Instagram feed without seeing those #ads popping up across your screen. Instantly, recognizable influencers hold up shampoos, hair gummies and various drinks against luxurious backdrops, plugging products in return for commissions. It is widely known that “influencing”…

  Jeff Sessions, US Attorney General, resigned on November 7. (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons)   On November 7, the United States Attorney General submitted his letter of resignation to President Trump, who has hounded him for months  Once, Trump was quite fond of his Attorney General, lauding Sessions as “a world-class legal mind,” and “a truly…

House Representative Steve King (R) of Iowa speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Gage Skidmore/Flickr Voters rallied to cast their ballots in the midterms on Tuesday, November 6, with voter turnout hitting a 50 year high. Yet as people strived to make their voices heard, some controversial candidates also made it into…

On Tuesday, November 6, Democrats wrested control of the House from their Republican rivals.  Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons   For the past several years, racism, demagoguery, fraud, corruption, elitism, obstructionism, and just about every other word describing how not to run a country have been rampant through Capitol Hill. Congress can’t agree on anything: every split decision…

Air Force Reserve Senior Master Sgt. John Daniels speaks with Senator Brown in Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown Air Reserve Station  My grandfather was a political science professor for over fifty years. He walked my mom to the polls when she was eligible to vote, and he taught her an important political truth. Most people in the world…

A memorial honoring the lives of those who died in the Tree of Life synagogue. (Wikipedia) “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens” read a headline for an article in The Onion after the Isla Vista killings in 2014. Despite being the work of a provocative satire news source, it…