The promise of free college education helped propel Bernie Sanders’ 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination to national prominence. It reverberated during the confirmation hearings for Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education and Sanders continues to push the issue. The average graduate in 2016 left college with more than $37,000 in student loan debt. In…
Post-exit Britain: democracy or autocracy?
Accompanied by leave campaigner Chris Grayling (background). Home Secretary Theresa May launches her Conservative leadership campaign. Stefan Rousseau / Press Association. All rights reserved.Theresa May says today in her statement announcing a leadership bid that there should be no triggering of the article 50 process until a negotiating strategy has been resolved. That must be…
These Teens Used To Be Going To Harvard. Then They Posted To Facebook
This year, 39,506 applicants vied to be one the 2,056 students in Harvard’s class of 2021. With a 5.2 percent acceptance rate, the competition was certainly fierce. Those who made the cut would’ve needed to rack up a number of academic and extracurricular achievements, and likely even followed the now-ubiquitous advice to clean up their social media presence, lest a college admissions…
Penal populism and the BDS movement after Security Council Res. 2334
Click:provides a Housing construction is ongoing on the eastern slopes of Pisgat Zeev, in East Jerusalem, January 23,2017.Nir Alon Zuma Press/Press Agency. All right reserved. In recent weeks great attention and debate have followed the approval of the United Nations Security Council (UN SC) Resolution 2334, which reaffirmed with clarity the international illegality of the…
Kids With No Lunch Money Are Being Made To Mop School Floors (Seriously)
When you’re a fourth-grader, you are completely reliant on your parents for money—which makes it difficult when they don’t give you enough to cover the $2.68 hot lunch at school. What happens next varies by state, but outstanding balances on cafeteria accounts frequently result in some kind of public callout. In some cases, kids are…
Persecution and the threat to the refugee system
Following the passage of controversial proposals on the EURODAC database of asylum applicants' and refugees' fingerprints,Greens/EFA MEPs protest the erosion of asylum seekers' basic rights, 2013. wikicommons/Greensafe. Some rights reserved.The practice of making and granting claims of asylum based on persecution is one of the most concrete expressions of human rights. Yet after more than…
Obama Brutally Reveals To The World What He Really Thinks About Trump
Tell us what you really think. Former President Obama offered up what may be the most realistic assessment of his successor, according to a new report, telling friends, “He’s nothing but a bullshitter.” Obama reportedly made the remark after his first phone call with Trump following the November election. People Magazine reports that after years…
Atlanta’s Big Goal
In the heart of downtown Atlanta, not far from City Hall, and just blocks from Georgia State’s sprawling campus and the future site of the $1.4 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium—where Atlanta’s United FC pro soccer team and the Atlanta Falcons will play—sits the Five Points MARTA train station. It is the largest and busiest train station…
Human rights vs. authoritarianism in Nicaragua
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, right, and first lady Rosario Murillo, wave to supporters during an event commemorating the 36th anniversary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. AP Photo/Esteban Felix. All rights reserved. Daniel Ortega, a Commander during the Sandinista revolution that overthrew a 50-year dynastic dictatorship, will hold office for a third consecutive term after…
Watch This Band Kid Go To Great Lengths Not To Miss The NBA Finals
While I watch the NBA Finals, I usually have my Twitter app open on my phone, possibly a magazine nearby, and I’m carrying on half a conversation with the people around me. But this kid crushes me at multitasking. While he watches the NBA Finals, he’s also playing trumpet in his high school’s band recital. Maybe…