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(03/10/16 2:00pm)
During Sunday’s Democratic Debate in Flint, Mich., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., took a moment to highlight what he felt to be a significant difference between himself and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in terms of economic reform. As Sanders remarked: “While we are on [the topic of] Wall Street, one of us has a super PAC. One of us has raised $15 million from Wall Street for that super PAC. One of us has given speeches on Wall Street for hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
(12/03/15 3:21am)
A common refrain I hear from Hillary Clinton supporters is that even if the country could somehow muster the will to put Bernie Sanders into the Oval Office, nothing would ever get done because Republicans would block Sanders’ ultra-liberal policy proposals at every turn. Admittedly, I understand where these people are coming from. For people who think the government can and should play a more active role in bettering people’s lives by ensuring health care as a right for all citizens, making college universally affordable and reigning in the power of the wealthiest Americans to control the political process, Sanders is exactly the person upon whom we should bestow the presidency. On the other hand, for those in Congress possessing wildly different notions of what government should do on behalf of the people, i.e., Republicans, a Sanders win on 2016’s election night would undoubtedly presage a precipitous drop in legislative productivity.
(09/28/15 12:53am)
The article entitled “Sanders’ socialism falls short” that appeared in the Sept. 23 issue of this paper provides poignant insight into the degree to which Bernie Sanders detractors are blind to historical economic trends and the success of socialist principles around the world. In the article the author purports to put backers of Sanders’ aims for things like universal healthcare and free college in their place by noting that these programs would cost money.
(04/28/15 5:15am)
It’s official. In the wake of probing by the Department of Justice and a deluge of citizen backlash, Comcast, the country’s largest Internet and cable provider, will not move forward with its plan to acquire Time Warner, the country’s second largest Internet and cable provider. Unless you’re Satan, this is great news. Taken with the recent decision on the part of the Federal Communications Commission to uphold net neutrality, there appears to be a glimmer of hope that the rules of our media landscape aren’t yet written completely by the telecommunications behemoths.
(04/13/15 3:00am)
I’m on an airplane right now. Well, not right now, because by the time anyone reads this, spring break will have come to a close and I’ll be settling back into college life in Madison. But as I type these words I’m on a plane to Los Angeles, surrounded by people who might as well be miles away.
(03/11/15 3:59am)
I’m sick to my stomach writing this. I’m sickened by the callousness with which people I grew up with are talking about the death of a human being, and sickened by the fact that Madison is now on the map for the killing of an unarmed black teenager at the hands of a white police officer. I’m in disbelief that my fellow citizens would be so ignorant as to look at the pervasive, disproportionate use of lethal force against blacks and not see that what we are dealing with is an explicitly racial issue with an entrenched historical precedent.
(02/23/15 3:02am)
Of the 10 highest-grossing films of 2014, eight were franchises and half of those eight were superhero films. Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of the independently produced “Birdman,” proclaimed in a Rolling Stone interview that these movies are “ruining things in a lot of ways” and “keep taking up room that could be going to smaller films.” Conversely, when asked by Rolling Stone if there are too many superhero films on the market, Paul Thomas Anderson, who helmed the also independently produced “Inherent Vice,” quipped that “people need to get a life if they’re having that discussion.”
(02/03/15 4:25am)
The recent attack of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo at the hands of religious fanatics has sent many into a frenzy extolling the merits of a free press. That so many of us regard the right to an open press as a fundamental tenet of society has been laid bare in our incredulity at those who would extinguish the torch of free expression and dictate the parameters of permissible thought. In their march through Paris in the wake of the attack, a myriad of the world’s leaders affirmed that those who value liberty over tyranny would not submit to the demands of terrorists.
(12/08/14 6:05am)
For those Badgers who feel that the stress caused by their workloads is akin not to that of the typical college student but the most beleaguered, overworked airplane pilots, any break from studying may be perceived as an impediment to ensuring readiness for a final test or essay. However, even though stress is an implicit part of most college students’ academic experiences, knowing when to take a break from studying is an important part of maintaining mental and physical health. In hearing and observing people’s attitudes toward studying, I’ve realized that many students are wont to follow an academic orthodoxy that holds hunkering down for hours on end as the optimal way to guarantee success in the classroom. To be honest, many workloads do require hours of focus and dedication if one wishes to do well. Nevertheless, work habits that consistently forgo exercise and relaxation breaks in favor of uninterrupted studying run the risk of intensifying the stress caused by coursework and increasing the likelihood of illness.
(11/05/14 7:44am)
A few weeks ago, over Twitter, I had a slightly tempestuous series of exchanges with the music streaming company Spotify. Its services, which can be accessed by either paying directly or agreeing to listen to advertisements intermittently between songs, are available for both computers and phones.
(10/16/14 2:57am)
Given the staggering level of popularity achieved by online streaming sites in recent years and the incredible amount of wide spread praise for these sites’ original content, I think it’s safe to say the era of streaming is upon us. At this point it would feel trite to expound the acclaim afforded to original shows like “Orange Is the New Black” or “Transparent” as evidence of the dominance of streaming, so here I would like to consider streaming in the context of the larger television landscape. The meteoric rise of streaming has ramifications for a medium it doesn’t even technically inhabit-— and the ripples across the greater television ocean set off by the success of streaming will undoubtedly be felt for years to come. Through its time-shifted model and original programming unencumbered by the barriers faced by network television, streaming sites are in the process of redefining television norms and conventions while putting pressure on traditional networks to do the same. In short, streaming is reshaping television for the better.
(10/09/14 3:45am)
On the surface, the recent efforts by the United States to quash the advance of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) ostensibly demonstrates the degree to which the U.S. is committed to promoting democracy around the world and preventing forced rule by violent demagogues. Undoubtedly, ISIL is a horrendous organization whose designs for establishing a 21st century caliphate have resulted in death and destruction for those deemed unworthy of inclusion in the new Islamic state. The United States is right to denounce ISIL regardless of whether or not the current military engagement with the group proves to be effective in the long run. However, the fight against ISIL serves to remind us of a major discrepancy in American foreign policy. Even though it posits itself as a champion of democracy and justice around the world, the United States has shown time and again that it’s more than willing to support thoroughly undemocratic countries when doing so satisfies its strategic interests.
(09/30/14 4:22am)
Being a fan of rock and roll from the 1960s, I occasionally visit YouTube to listen to albums and songs from the decade. Sometimes during these digital jaunts (and against my better judgment) I make my way over to the comments section to see what my fellow YouTubers have to say about the music. Usually all I find are genuine words of approval towards the music and its creators from die-hard fans, but every now and then I come across a particularly cantankerous individual who has taken the commenting opportunity to bemoan the state of contemporary popular music.
(04/02/14 6:41am)
TV commercials sure have taught me a lot about the everyday products I as a consumer take for granted. For instance, did you know that chewing gum brings you closer to your daughter? That wearing the right deodorant causes every woman you meet to wish they were your next sexual conquest? And great news about alcohol! Drinking beer automatically makes you the life of any party, while vodka turns you into a trendy urbanite who gets to go to nightclubs packed with beautiful people. Here I was, oblivious to the fact that the products I use all the time have been improving my personal life and correcting emotional flaws I would have thought could only be remedied by a good therapist. Needless to say, I owe the four corporations that make everything we buy these days a debt of gratitude for churning out such helpful products.
(02/27/14 9:01pm)
Death’s a bitch, isn’t it? The idea that one day you’re a happy-go-lucky guy playing Ultimate Frisbee and the next a pile of ashes being scattered into Lake Monona by relatives whose next stop is IHOP for chocolate chip pancakes is crazy to me. To those of us who just can’t get on board with belief in an afterlife (Heaven doesn’t sound so bad, but can you imagine waking up in a boat on the River Styx with Hades’ minions prodding you in the ass?), death is a pretty freaky proposition.