The Future of Marijuana Use: Will North Carolinians Be Able to Legally Light It Up Anytime Soon?

“With the recent announcement from the White House and an increasing number of states legalizing marijuana, North Carolinians are left wondering about the future of marijuana legalization in their state. While both Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein have voiced their support for legalization of marijuana, the ultimate decision lies in the hands of North Carolina’s Republican-controlled state legislature.“

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Biden’s Plan for Student Debt Forgiveness: A Solution or Quick Fix?

“While the Income-Driven Student Loan Forgiveness Act will help many Americans today, it simultaneously admits the inherent need for change in our Department of Education. If Americans want to see a future with growing numbers of college graduates, we have to act now. Congress must be urged to make longstanding policy on the student debt crisis rather than create more short-term fixes.“

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The Cost of Debt

“Only recently having left the world of mask mandates, vaccines, work at home orders, and increased prices, the state of the dollar must be preserved in an already weakened economy. With inflation the highest in over forty years, having been capped in July at 9.1%, additive changes such as loan forgiveness will seek to halt its decline back to the recommended 2%.”

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Having Your Cake and Eating it Too: Congresses’ attempt to ban Congressional insider trading

“One of the potential versions of the legislation, sponsored by Senators Jon Ossoff and Mark Kelly, stipulates that lawmakers, their spouses and dependent children would be prohibited from individually investing in stock, bonds, cryptocurrencies and other financial assets tied to particular companies. Alternatively, the legislation would also force members of Congress to divest or move assets into a blind trust, where they would have no involvement in managing the profitability of their investments and require lawmakers to provide detailed transaction summaries for permitted investments.“

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Quebec Election - A New Direction for Nationalism?

“Beyond the CAQ’s sweeping victory, the election results are also notable for the sharp defeat of the Parti Quebecois and its platform of full independence from Ottawa. Yet the decline of the party most traditionally linked with Quebec separatism is not a decline of the nationalist project itself. Rather, the victory of the CAQ marks a redefinition, not a repudiation, of Quebec nationalism.”

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Diplomatic Escalations in the Russia-Ukraine War

“We have passed two hundred and twenty five days into the Russia-Ukraine war; Russia’s international support falls as Putin threatens nuclear escalation, and the west suspects the Kremlin of attacks on Europe’s energy infrastructure. Ukraine works to entrench its security guarantees as Russia annexes four of its regions.”

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Politics, Philanthropy, and Patagonia: 2022’s Climate Change Reckoning

“In 2020, a group of the company’s lawyers began searching for alternate ownership methods to answer the question of Chouinard’s eventual succession. Chouinard wanted to “go purpose,” not public. Going public would have been chaotic, in his eyes, because shareholders’ motivation for short-term profit would have drowned out the company’s mission of sustainability and workers’ rights“

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Former President Trump Faces Ongoing Investigation Amidst Claims Certain Documents are Still Missing

“Former president Trump is facing an uphill battle after the FBI raid on his Mar-a-lago property failed to recover all of the missing documents that are in his possession. As the National Archives works to find the remaining documents Trump is under more and more fire from the press. This story broke a month before the 2022 midterm elections, but will it hurt the Republican party as they attempt to gain back seats they lost in the 2020 general election?”

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Democrats Hope to Buck Expectations in this Year’s Hotly Contested Midterms

“This midterm year is anything but typical. With Covid-19 cases on the decline but still persisting, rising inflation, and abounding culture wars, the midterms were shaping up to be a referendum on the Biden era of government, with prospects looking like Democrats would lose big in both houses of Congress. But, over the summer, things started to shift.”


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War Crimes In Ukraine and the UN Charter: An Inadequate Mechanism of Protection?

“After a thorough investigation, a United Nations commission recently concluded that Russia committed war crimes in Ukraine, which has incited even more outrage from world leaders. UN Secretary-General António Guterres even warned that these recent developments could lead to “an endless cycle of horror and bloodshed.” The beginning of a discussion involving war crimes requires an examination of the UN Charter, which President Biden referred to in his recent speech to the UN General Assembly.”

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Beasley vs. Budd: A Decision for North Carolinians with Consequences Reaching Well Beyond the Tarheel State

“While this decision for voters is mainly about choosing a representative for the Tarheel state, this senate seat could be the linchpin crucial to either party gaining control of the U.S. Senate. North Carolinians could ultimately “quietly determine the balance of power in the Senate” as they enter the voting booth this November.”

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High Inflation, Public Expectations of Recession. Economic Uncertainty is Poised to Control the 2022 U.S. Political Atmosphere

“Make no mistake, inflation, the economy, and the recession question will remain in the news cycle for months to come. These topics greatly affect the American people so it will likewise dominate political discourse as Covid moves to the backburner. Expect the political blame game to go on before, during, and after the 2022 election season. Still, consider the greater effects of a recession. People lose jobs, homes, and sometimes even their lives. We can only hope the government can use its tools to effectively avoid that prospect.”

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Precedent Unraveling: How the Landmark Roe v. Wade Decision Could be No More

Although controversial, returning the right to the states will return the right to the elected legislature; this is where it should be. This is because the 10th Amendment provides states with the right to create laws that are not specifically granted to the federal government nor specifically prohibited from states in the Constitution. Abortion is not mentioned in the Constitution nor is anything regarding pregnancy. Therefore, because it is not a right listed as a responsibility of the federal government, the right then becomes part of the state’s authority. “Furthermore, Roe essentially circumvented the legislature to legalize abortion. We were all taught in civics class that the judiciary interprets laws, it does not create them, that responsibility lies with the legislature. States will be able to choose their abortion policies which will be created by elected officials, not judges. However, a post-Roe world will be interesting considering multiple polls before the 2020 election reported that between 61% and 69% of Americans supported Roe and between 24% and 28% want it to be overturned.”

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