OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Casual sex is not self-discovery or empowerment
Mar. 20, 2016"There is no sexual relation.”
Opinion | Columns
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Accent needs to do its job
Mar. 20, 2016According to its website, Accent Speakers Bureau, the Student Government group that brings speakers to campus, “strives to bring controversial and influential speakers to the university, with the intent of further educating the student body, outside of the classroom, on current hot topics and controversies.” If this is the group’s mission statement, Accent is clearly not doing its job.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Media still treats Sanders terribly
Mar. 20, 2016The liberal media made up its mind a long time ago: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. While former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s candidacy was laughable from the beginning, support for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has increased steadily. His legitimacy has increased with time. While he will never have the kind of name recognition Clinton has, Sanders’ support has grown from five-person crowds to sold-out auditoriums. Yet, this means nothing to the liberal establishment.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Guest column: Cop and Shaq shoot it out in Florida
Mar. 17, 2016This is going to be an amazing year for the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, and we want to thank everyone for making that possible. One of the greatest things I have learned from the CSPOA is the proper role of law enforcement. As a young child, I grew up with two Florida Highway Patrol officers as parents and a longtime friend who was a Marion County deputy sheriff. Though I never worked the beat, I did hear stories and saw how they carried themselves.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: The major problem with populism
Mar. 16, 2016Until this election cycle, populism, the strategy to appeal to the general population, was a term mostly directed to the dusty bookshelves of American history or parties only present in European politics, like Podemos.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: This is not the end of Marco Rubio
Mar. 16, 2016Marco Rubio: The GOP’s golden boy, the Republican pride of the Sunshine State, the Florida-born master of politics, carefully set up by those before him to lead a new generation.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: The legitimacy of political science
Mar. 15, 2016If asked about their latest views on quantitative easing in the Federal Reserve, most people wouldn’t have an opinion. The same thing can be said about the latest breakthroughs in particle physics, medical technology or any area of science for that matter. On the other hand, if politics comes up, people will adamantly share their opinion — informed or not — on what they believe to be right.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Take a chance, give audiobooks a try
Mar. 15, 2016When I was in elementary school, I spent a lot of time in the car. Whether it was driving my siblings and myself to the various interests that occupied our time, such as dance class or soccer practice, driving us all to school and back every day like an absolute saint, or driving the family off across the country on vacation, my lovely, self-sacrificing parents did a lot of driving three young, talkative, easily riled-up kids around. Not to sound like someone who despises technology — because I don’t — but they managed to do this day in and day out without the helpful distraction of an iPad for small, sticky fingers to latch onto. I applaud their self-control, and I must remember to call home more often.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Why are we fascinated by anti-heroes?
Mar. 14, 2016Whether you like it or not, we live in a cultural climate dominated by the anti-hero. Not to be confused with a full-blown villain, an anti-hero by definition lacks the upright moral character and endearing qualities of the traditional heroes we’ve come to know so well in mainstream culture. This quite often takes the form of questionable means to an end, an unpredictable narrative trajectory and unsavory moral flaws.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Guest Column: The importance of women's history in building the feminist movement
Mar. 14, 2016History teaches us lessons about how people organized to change the world — lessons in victories and lessons in failures. The women’s liberation movement made innumerable gains for women, from being able to wear pants on campus and having credit in our own names to having access to birth control in marriage. But the point isn’t just to learn about history; it’s to use that knowledge to change — and make — history. We can learn from the victories of previous movements, adopt their techniques and improve them if necessary. We can study our predecessors’ failures, analyze them and make sure not to repeat them.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: To disparage bad wind is really dis-gust-ing
Mar. 14, 2016Whoa. Where am I? Just a minute ago, I was walking down University Avenue, but before I knew it, I blacked out and woke up in the opinions section of the Alligator.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Our various technologies prohibit introspection
Mar. 13, 2016We live lives without half-lives.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Why UF Law is still worth it
Mar. 13, 2016Two weeks ago, the UF Levin College of Law hosted its first Double Gator Reception, an event in which professors, administrators, alumni and potential law students could meet and mingle.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: The differences between Sanders and Clinton on incarceration
Mar. 13, 2016The U.S. has the second-highest prison population rate, according to the Institute for Criminal Policy Research and the World Prison Brief. While the U.S. touts itself as the “home of the free,” this seems contradictory to American values. Mass incarceration is a lose-lose problem: Those who are needlessly incarcerated lose the ability to integrate easily into society and the taxpayers are footing the bill for something that ultimately does not make us any safer. According to the University of Chicago Crime Lab, the costs for housing an inmate can be around $30,000 a year, but this does not take into account the social costs of high rates of incarceration.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Internalized misogyny: common comments and why they’re bad
Mar. 10, 2016We’re all guilty of it. Even a diehard feminist like myself has the occasional “ugh, get a load of her” moment when confronted with a scantily clad girl at a party. Internalized misogyny is the act of women elevating the status of men through demeaning the value of other women. At its most overt, internalized misogyny manifests as women openly tearing down other women. However, a far more subtle manifestation exists in the remarks women make day to day. It’s so subtle we may not even realize what we’re doing. In this column, I’m going to identify three very common internally misogynistic remarks I’ve heard — and made! — and explain the damage they do to feminism.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Exit stage right, exit stage left
Mar. 10, 2016Recent polls indicate the U.K. is leaning closer toward exiting the European Union, and June 23, Britons may decide to do just that via national referendum. The odds seem to be against this. Britons overall have a long history of being supportive toward remaining part of the Union, but with the most recent Telegraph poll, indicating about 49 percent of Britons favor leaving, the U.K.’s status in Europe — and by extension, the world — appears tenuous.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: America's voting age should be raised
Mar. 9, 2016"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” —Winston Churchill
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Books to counter anti-abortionists
Mar. 8, 2016I was going to take time in this column to wow my potential reader with the concept of the “Library Bar”: a holy sanctuary of alcoholic beverages and dog-eared, good-smelling books, which would have been gloriously fun to write about.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: Read a damn book and feed your mind
Mar. 8, 2016Just like the stomach, the human brain needs nourishment.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Column: English is not the American national language
Mar. 8, 2016"You want to be in America, A) You’d better be here legally or you’re out of here; B) When you’re here, let’s speak American.” — Sarah Palin
