Two major issues have been dominating our national politics, health care reform and the Russian investigation. This is, to put it mildly, stupid.
A US-India alliance could be key for the US to remain a global superpower
Last weekend, in Charlottesville, Virginia, members and supporters of the Ku Klux Klan protested the Charlottesville City Council’s decision to remove a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The rally was met with even more protesters denouncing the antiquated beliefs of the KKK.
I was an ambassador with Multicultural and Diversity Affairs for four semesters, where I worked exclusively at the Institute of Black Culture for three of those semesters. I chose to stop working for MCDA once it became apparent that many of the department’s actions didn’t align with the values that they promote. What is happening now with the renovation of the institutes is a prime example of how MCDA actively acts against the best interests of the students they claim to advocate for. Combining the IBC and the Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, or La Casita, is not only working to erase the histories of the black and Latinx communities at UF, but also to further disregard the needs and concerns of students of color within a predominantly white institution.
I write a column every week, and many of these weeks, I have a hard time picking a topic. Sometimes topics just come to me, but often, they don’t. To remedy this, sometimes I search Google for topics. Sometimes I take the advice of a fellow columnist and Google search, “What are Americans angry about today?” I did that this week, and I was greeted by a slew of articles about why Americans are so angry. There was nothing too specific that day, but essentially, a bunch of news outlets wrote pieces about why Americans are so angry about many different things.
Democrats have been criticized from within their own ranks for focusing on the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 election when an economic message could be more effective against Republicans, who are in the middle of pushing an extremely unpopular health care bill through Congress. In his testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier last month, former FBI Director James Comey insisted that all Americans should be concerned about the prospect of a foreign power influencing the outcome of a Democratic election. He told the committee, “It’s not about Republicans or Democrats. They’re coming after America, which I hope we all love equally. They want to undermine our credibility in the face of the world.”
As President Donald Trump gained popularity, the informational canal politicians use to reach the American people changed. Instead of news briefings, professional interviews and dignified speeches, politicians have turned to Twitter as their main form of communication with their constituents.
I recall a conversation I had with my dad in which he reflected on his experience in school as a child. He vividly remembers the school administration in the early 1960’s conducting drills in which he and his classmates would practice crouching down under their desks in the event of a nuclear blast.
Twenty-two million. Over the next two decades, 22 million Americans are expected to lose their health insurance under the proposed U.S. Senate Republican health care bill.
Last Tuesday, Republican Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff in the most expensive congressional race in U.S. history. The special election filled the vacancy left by current Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, located just outside of Atlanta. Newt Gingrich took the 6th district in 1979, and it has been held by Republicans comfortably since. However, since President Donald Trump won the district by a close margin of only two percentage points in 2016, Democrats saw an opportunity to try to flip it.
As I drove back to Gainesville after about two months filled with travel and relaxation, I came to a horrific realization.
On Friday, Jeronimo Yanez, the Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year, was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter.
On Tuesday, news outlets disclosed that American college student, Otto Warmbier, had finally been released after more than 17 months in detention in North Korea. According to Warmbier’s parents, he is currently in a coma after he contracted botulism, a paralyzing nerve toxin, and is still in “bad shape.”
Recently, I started working as a server for a new company. I have never worked in the restaurant business before. That is to say, I have no prior experience serving, bussing, cooking or hosting. My only experience in the industry is the many times I’ve been a customer.
If 2016 was the year of realizing things, then 2017 is the year of trying things.
Former FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last Thursday regarding possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump in the FBI’s investigation of collusion between his campaign and the Russian government. Trump’s political opponents desperately hoped Comey would show that Trump’s behavior provided grounds for impeachment. While Comey’s words showed he did not trust the president and believed the president wanted to dismiss the investigation of Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor, I believe it yielded nothing incriminating. In fact, I think it did more to clear Trump’s name.
Something we’ve noticed about UF students is that they all have a common undying need to succeed.
Last week I wrote about my renting experience with Watson Realty Corp. In my column, there were some misrepresented facts: after Sharon Giddens left the company on good terms — for she was not fired, nor did she quit — one of my roommates stayed in contact with another person from Watson Realty. I, however, was left in the dark for the period of three months. This was not Watson Realty’s fault. Though our relationship was not ideal, Watson Realty does not deserve the disservice of falsity. My sincerest apologies.
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will answer that question in an upcoming term, ultimately deciding whether law enforcement authorities should be required to get a warrant before they can track your location through your cellphone records.
President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement last week in a move that set the U.S. apart from nearly every country in the world. The left responded with its usual rage and hysteria. Fareed Zakaria declared that the withdrawal was “the single most irresponsible act that this president has taken” and that “the United States resigned as the leader of the free world.” Many others echoed his claims. Statements like these mirror the left’s typical hyperbole when any political move doesn’t reflect the liberal agenda, especially on the ever sensitive issue of climate change.
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