“North Carolina Senate Bill 300 seeks to reform policing in North Carolina, addressing some of the issues highlighted by the horrific death of George Floyd this past summer. More controversially, however, the bill would reclassify rioting offenses from Class 1 misdemeanors to Class H or G felonies in response to violence that occurred during some protests over the summer. With a vague definition of what constitutes a riot, however, some believe that this could harm individuals wrongly arrested.”
Read More“On Monday March 15, the U.S. Senate voted 51 to 40 to confirm former New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior, making her the first Native American cabinet secretary in American history. Four Republicans - Senators Graham (SC), Collins (ME), Sullivan (AK), and Murkowski (AK) - joined the Democrats in yay votes. This is not the first time Haaland has made history. In 2018 she and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS), became the first Native American women elected to Congress. Haaland’s nomination and confirmation represented a positive step toward President Biden’s promise to create the most diverse cabinet in U.S. history. Haaland also assumes the office at a particularly challenging time when battling climate change is at the forefront of the national political conversation. She will be tasked with carrying out the Biden administration plan to reduce carbon emissions on a nationwide scale.”
Read More“While much disinformation comes from inside the U.S., Americans must also note an ever-present strategy for impacting elections adopted by both interveners, and that is dividing the population and undermining faith in our election systems. Distrust in our democracy generally, is not only damaging in election time, but damaging to the cohesion of the nation broadly.”
Read More“The first article of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic states: “France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion.” However, during his 2012 presidential campaign, François Hollande promised to remove the word ‘race’ from the constitution. From Hollande’s point of view, race does not exist, and therefore should not be mentioned in any official text. While this may sound surprising to American ears, 33% of French citizens do not believe that race exists.”
Read More“The bill, also named the “For the People Act,” was introduced and advocated for by Democrats in Congress, who consider it an essential step in preserving voting rights in the United States and it would be the largest package of voting rights laws since the 1960’s. In today’s politically charged environment, marked by former President Donald Trump and Republicans falsely claiming widespread fraud in the 2020 election, the outcome of HR-1 could affect elections and voting rights for years to come.”
Read More“Attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to suppress dissent in the wake of massive protests in Hong Kong in 2019 have led to sanctions first by the Trump Administration and now extended by the Biden Administration signalling U.S. policy around democracy and human rights will not be softening.”
Read More“In one of his first official acts as Lieutenant Governor, Mark Robinson has formed a new committee, “Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students” (F.A.C.T.S.). This committee is dedicated to giving students, parents, and school faculty “a voice to speak out about cases of bias, inappropriate materials, and indoctrination they see or experience in schools.”
Read More“Even before Biden took office, he had praised President Trump's administration for their work in rolling out the vaccine in Operation Warp Speed, "I think that the administration deserves some credit, getting this off the ground, Operation Warp Speed,” Biden said after he received Pfizer’s vaccine. “... I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared, when it's available, to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about.” Things have changed since December, when Biden praised Trump, however, and the former President doesn’t want to be left behind.”
Read More“While this year may represent a loss of traditional learning, it also represents a year of persistence and growth despite circumstance. Learning did not stop because of the pandemic and not every lesson taught has been negative.”
Read More“In North Carolina, Governor Roy Cooper first evoked emergency powers in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic and has continued to exercise his authority as we enter the end of March 2021. Currently, Cooper’s executive orders are in effect until he decides to make an amendment, however, the NC General Assembly is seeking to curtail Cooper’s power. The bill in the General Assembly, House Bill 264, would require every governor to seek approval from a majority of the Council of State before being allowed to issue a long-lasting executive order. Additionally, the bill would only allow an executive order to remain for a maximum of seven days without approval from the Council of State before being automatically voided.”
Read More“Myanmar has been historically isolated due to the strife in the region. The recent coup is garnering a mixture of international reactions that could have negative effects on both the people of Myanmar and the countries themselves.“
Read More“Sanders and other progressive Democrats pushed on, attempting to pass an amendment which would re-include the $15 minimum wage. The harshest roadblock to their efforts came when Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who oversees the legitimacy of Senate activities, ruled that the $15 minimum wage could not be included under the existing budget reconciliation limitations.”
Read More“Standardized tests are not only required by state and federal law, but the results are used to evaluate school and student performances, teacher accountability, and even help dictate principal salary. In the midst of the pandemic, many concerns have been raised about schools and students still being evaluated on regular conditions despite experiencing the biggest gap and setbacks in learning in the 21st century”
Read More““It remains to be seen whether further, more serious action will be taken by the Russian government amid their efforts to send a message to large social media conglomerates; however, it appears that this route of potential censorship has been building for quite a while and would not be totally out of the question. The further question that remains is what the backlash of younger generations would be should Russia pursue this route.”"
Read More“Receding sea ice and melting permafrost in the Arctic are reshaping the security and economic landscape of the far north. New shipping lanes, previously un-navigable because of ice, could be available for commercial shipping year-round by 2030. While the Arctic Council has created a space for collaboration and exchange amongst Arctic states for the past 25 years, the potential for economic gain and unique national security concerns could erode cooperation and add a new dynamic to power competitions in the Arctic.”
Read More“It is easy for those of us who live in wealthy nations with high vaccination rates to think of those in poorer or war-torn countries as pitiable but distant. Something to be concerned about, though lacking any real impact on the success of our own COVID eradication efforts. This, however, is a grave misjudgment. Not only is vaccine nationalism and the zero-sum prioritization of one’s own population a moral failing, it is scientifically counterproductive.”
Read More“The Biden administration has drawn a clear line in the sand against Russia as they placed sanctions on a variety of mid-level and senior-level officials, in addition to more than 24 Russian governmental agencies, due to the connection between these actors and the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny last August.”
Read More“Through a video posted to Twitter in the late hours on February 28th, President Biden announced his support in for the workers striking against Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama. ‘Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union,’ the video caption read.”
Read More“President Joe Biden faced his first major cabinet confirmation setback two weeks ago with the withdrawal of Neera Tanden as his pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Tanden faced a difficult confirmation process from the outset due to her past Twitter criticism of the GOP and some progressives, like Senator Bernie Sanders. Tanden later deleted many of these critical tweets before her confirmation hearing, though this did little to improve her chances of confirmation. How did Tanden — the former Clinton campaign aide and president of the Center”
Read More“A new round of rocket strikes on the U.S. backed Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq prompts questions of how the Biden administration will respond to growing hostilities with Iran. Despite the U.S. desire to return to a negotiated nuclear framework, the current cycle of escalation could prevent any meaningful cooperation in the near future.”
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