Category: Columnists

No, Amazon in New York is a Terrible Idea

Ryan Slattery

“It is a great day for New York City” said New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, as he and Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the plan to host half of Amazon’s headquarters in Long Island City. Yes, the same guy who suggested that private property just doesn’t make the cut in New York City is now welcoming a company through billions of dollars in incentives. He even said “I think people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which…

“Pro Not-Dying”

J Elizabeth Mascoli

February 14th, 2018:  Nikolas Cruz kills seventeen people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. May 18th, 2018:  Dimitrios Pagourtzis kills ten and wounds ten in his own high school in Santa Fe, Texas. October 25th, 2018: Gregory Bush kills two black men in a supermarket after being denied access to a predominantly black church in Jeffersontown, Kentucky. October 27th, 2018:  Robert Gregory Bowers kills eleven people in the Tree of Life Synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. November 2nd, 2018: Scott Beierle kills two women and wounds…

Chasing the Communist Bait: How America Has Spread Itself Too Thin

Ryan Slattery

It was only a few months ago that the leaders of North and South Korea made a historic agreement to formally end the Korean War, thus ending the 65 year-long armistice, and one of the key conflicts within the Cold War. Yet, after all of this time, America’s military has continued to increase its global presence. We continue to send billions in foreign aid to other countries and participate in costly alliances like NATO. I’ve come to see the negative effects of our global presence: not only in our abandonment…

Oil Sanctions, Barter Systems, and the State of U.S.-Europe Relations

Austin Sacker

In May of this year, the Trump administration announced their intent to withdraw from the Obama-era Iran-P5+1 nuclear disarmament deal and plan to re-impose prior sanctions placed on Iran’s oil sector. Earlier this November, these new sanctions began taking effect. It is important to note that Iran, as far as the interested parties are concerned (including Iranian adversary Saudi Arabia), was abiding well within the parameters of the agreement; furthermore, the participation of the US is not essential to the continuation of the agreement. Although there is much speculation as to…

Pink, White, and Blue: The Most Recent Transgender Fight

J Elizabeth Mascoli

The LGBT community has made great strides in the past few years with the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage, as well as the growing visibility and awareness of LGBT issues.  However, the community does still face discrimination and ignorance, and the latest example of this is the reckless fervor with which the Trump administration is attempting to roll back rights.  The Department of Health and Human Services is currently trying to establish an “explicit and uniform” definition of gender.  According to a memo obtained by the New York Times that…

The Complications of Simple Majorities

Ryan Slattery

“I don’t believe that I can support a cloture resolution providing for cloture by a simple majority vote. The difficulty with any cloture is that it changes the entire character of the debate, and that it is liable to great abuse on the part of a bare majority.” – Robert A. Taft Let’s have a recap of the past two years in the U.S. Senate. Republicans took control of the Senate back in the 2016 election, holding 52 seats. With the help of the Senate Finance Committee, a new tax…

Are We Facing a Democratic Party in the Process of Radicalization?

Austin Sacker

Evident within the past decade or so, perhaps coinciding with the advent of social media platforms and greater media attention to our national political divide, the more radical elements of the right and left have gained major time in the American political spotlight. I am referring especially to the groups known as the “alt-right,” “Antifa,” the “alt-left,” and the like. While these groups are ostensibly ideologically opposed, they nonetheless share common methodological values: a diminished regard for civil discourse, a preference for informal political avenues of action, and on some…

It’s Time for America to Capitalize on the Wrongs of Capital Punishment

Ryan Slattery

The number of deaths resulting from capital punishment have reached an all-time low since 1991. Despite much of the chaos we see today, only 23 prisoners have been executed in 20171. A Gallup Poll conducted in October of 2017 shows that 55 percent of Americans support capital punishment for cases of murder, a five-point drop from the October 2016 results2. Indeed, support for capital punishment has reached an all-time low in 45 years. The time has come where Americans are starting to see capital punishment as a practice that is…