Opinion
Obama’s ‘strategic patience’ is misleading and ineffective
Feb. 11, 2015The world is coming undone. Chaos, violence and disorder are spreading quickly.
Opinion
Opinion
Alabama limbo good sign for national marriage equality
Feb. 10, 2015Alabama began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Monday. Well, parts of Alabama, anyway.
Opinion
Improvement in UF SG: a how-to guide
Feb. 10, 2015For those who missed out, last week I wrote a column detailing our Student Government representatives’ lack of visibility. In an attempt to highlight the disparities in SG presence during election time as compared to that of the rest of the year, I mentioned that Swamp Party has a recurring pattern of abandoning their social media platforms after elections. Thankfully, Blake Murphy, SG director of external affairs, wrote a letter to the editor informing me of an election code that prohibits political parties from making posts outside of election cycles. Murphy also brought attention to another YouTube account, one of three unverified ones, that releases “SG TV” episodes. He went on to mention that SG hosts dozens of events because visibility and transparency are their priorities.
Opinion
Bush can’t escape embarrassment from staff member's tweets
Feb. 9, 2015The Republican with seemingly the best chance of sitting in the Oval Office used to occupy a parallel room in the Florida Governor’s Mansion.
Opinion
GOP: There’s nothing ‘beautiful’ about rape
Feb. 9, 2015A Republican state lawmaker insulted women and sexual assault survivors nationwide Thursday when he spoke about rape exemptions in a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. During West Virginia’s House Health Committee meeting, delegate Brian Kurcaba argued that rape and incest victims shouldn’t be exempt from the ban because even pregnancy from rape has a silver lining.
Opinion
The Need for Moderation
Feb. 9, 2015If there’s one thing this world has no shortage of, it’s opinions on the State of Israel. There are vocal proponents and vocal oppositions. The spectrum of opinions on Israel’s existence ranges from “shouldn’t exist at all” to “unconditionally” and yet, as with most political things, the middle of the spectrum is largely ignored. Although it may be the least-recognized group of advocates, that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. This is why the need for J Street U on UF’s campus is so pressing. The Middle East is, and always has been, a hotspot for political and religious tension. Ignoring this tension in favor of one group or another is illogical and unproductive. J Street U aims to change this.
Opinion
President Obama’s speech calls for religious tolerance
Feb. 9, 2015Each U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has attended the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event started in 1953. President Barack Obama is no different in this instance, and he gave a speech at the breakfast last week. This speech marked Obama’s seventh attendance at the breakfast, and while the speech was uplifting in its hopeful message, it also raised a few eyebrows and has resulted in a lot of backlash from conservative politicians and organizations.
Opinion
What ever happened to Michael Sam?
Feb. 8, 2015I was watching the NFL Draft in May when history was made.
Opinion
New single-sex restroom bill in Florida House is discriminatory
Feb. 8, 2015In the Florida House last week, a bill was manufactured by Republican Frank Artiles that gives a whole new meaning to discrimination. HB 583, entitled “Single-Sex Public Facilities,” would make it so a person must use a public facility that aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Opinion
How much difference will advances in science make?
Feb. 8, 2015Life is full of unexpected happenings, and many people have been quoted at the end of their lives about the things they regret not doing. Wouldn’t you love to know how much life we have left? It’s amazing — or terrifying, depending on where you stand — that science is actually getting close to being able to determine how long each of us will live.
Opinion
Airplane crashes and terrorist propaganda in this week's Darts & Laurels
Feb. 5, 2015Guess what? We aren’t going to complain about the weather this week. But how in the world did it get to be midterm time? Our minds are blown. And we have a week left to scrape together Valentine’s Day plans, so here’s your we’re- all-kinds-of-stressed edition of...
Opinion
Don’t kick out those semi-welcome guests
Feb. 5, 2015On “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” comedian J.B. Smoove plays Leon Black, the brother of Loretta Black, a woman who ends up moving in with Larry David in Los Angeles after being displaced from New Orleans by a hurricane. Despite already having a home in L.A. — not to mention not even being formally invited into Larry’s house — Leon moves in, and quickly becomes a key player in Larry’s antics. When Loretta finally moves out, Larry gestures to Leon, “I guess this means you’ll be…” obviously meaning to ask him to leave as well. When Leon quickly replies that he’ll be “Going upstairs to eat this f****** Chinese food,” pausing to take a sip of soda, “in my f****** room,” Larry can’t even muster the energy to debate the point.
Opinion
Bruce Jenner’s gender isn't our business
Feb. 5, 2015I was at the grocery store on Tuesday waiting to pay for my buy-one-get-one Cheez-Its when some magazine headlines caught my eye. The cash register line was a little long, so I had some time to look around at the multiple magazines covering the same subject: Bruce Jenner.
Opinion
Letter to the Editor: Response to “SG has room for improvement”
Feb. 5, 2015Earlier this week in the column titled “SG has room for improvement,” writer Christopher Wilde attempted to make the case that Student Government and Swamp Party are not visible to students because the Swamp Party Facebook page went 114 days without posting an update.
Opinion
Letter to the Editor: Swamp Party pleased with Senate slate
Feb. 5, 2015My name is Ricky Salabarria, and I currently serve as the Swamp Party spokesman. I am very excited to announce that our party’s slate for the Spring 2015 Student Government Elections has been released. After three days of qualifying, slating and interviewing, Swamp Party is confident that we have selected the 50 most qualified and capable students to serve in the Student Senate and bring our university the experience it deserves.
Opinion
The growing problem of male body image
Feb. 5, 2015Last year, I overheard a conversation between two men at the gym. “Yeah, if I didn’t have class I’d lift for two hours in the morning, do cardio at lunch and then do two hours of core at night.” I turned around, curious to see what kind of person would ever want to do that. What I saw didn’t seem to be a person at all, so much as a rippling ball of hypervascularized muscle. His arms were so huge that they hung limply like a T. rex’s, and his legs seemed to buckle under his frame. If I didn’t have my glasses on, I probably would have mistaken him for The Thing.
Opinion
“To Kill a Mockingbird” sequel has suspicious origins
Feb. 4, 2015If you or anybody you may have encountered in the last couple days happens to enjoy reading in any capacity, you’ve probably heard the news about the new book by Harper Lee.
Opinion
In education debate, Catholic schools win
Feb. 4, 2015Debates revolving around education are always contentious. This issue, unlike other high-profile issues of our time, induces strong emotional responses. For some reason, parents’ choices are solely limited to either pro-school choice, pro-teacher, pro-public schools or pro-charter schools. What this narrow and emotional debate leaves out is the role that religious schools, Catholic schools in particular, play in our society.
Opinion
Meninism: a movement of misogyny and contradiction that sets back women’s rights
Feb. 3, 2015As issues concerning feminism become increasingly popular and hotly debated, a faction of its opponents attempt to match that growth and diminish feminism’s lasting effect. The men’s rights movement — or meninists, as they so cutely call themselves — represents the loudest organized voices against feminism, bemoaning a neglect of men they believe remains unaddressed. At best, this movement is a redundant protest of issues that feminism already seeks to address. At worst, meninists are making a misogynistic mockery of true activism and misguidedly placing blame.
Opinion
Experimenting with the effectiveness of dreamcatchers
Feb. 3, 2015I ate some salad, double-checked my alarm — set for every three hours — closed my eyes and tried to worry about upcoming exams. I wasn’t asking for a next-day headache; I wanted to prove dream catchers couldn’t stop bad dreams.
