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(04/04/17 3:31am)
After nearly two months in office, President Donald Trump’s political “honeymoon” with voters has been unprecedentedly characterized by excessive investigations, failed executive orders, false accusations and intra-party conflicts that have prevented any significant policy changes from coming to fruition. For a president who claimed that America “would get tired of winning so much,” it has become evident that this, like many other claims by our president, is simply false and, in many occasions, a flat out lie.
(04/04/17 3:31am)
All the way back in the far-off year of 2010, a rising Congressman by the name of Paul Ryan was being touted as the next great conservative policy wonk. Clutching a metaphorical Bible in one hand and Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” in the other, Ryan swore that once the Republican Party wrested control of the White House back from Barack Obama, he would wipe the president’s signature Affordable Care Act right off the face of the Earth. He claimed that Obama’s plan amounted to a “bill that is full of gimmicks and smoke-and-mirrors” and constituted “a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud” in his address at a 2010 White House health summit, according to a Feb. 25, 2010 Washington Post article. With conservatives across the country furious at the increasingly prominent role the federal government was taking in American health care, Ryan promised that he could not only tear Obamacare to shreds, but also introduce a comprehensive privatized plan that would “invite true choice and competition” and “ensure [that] critical programs like Medicare and Medicaid can deliver on their promise in the 21st century,” according to his website. These are buzzwords that tell his conservative base exactly what they want to hear: The government will finally stop spending money on making sure that poor people do not die.
(04/04/17 3:31am)
Stolen coins, burgled artwork and forgeries all share a common trait — they result from crime. Venturing one step further, one might ask: What compels an individual to commit art theft or forgery? While the motive is not completely understood, it is known that these events have occurred in the past and continue to occur.
(03/30/17 4:50am)
According to a March 21 New York Times article, President Donald Trump plans on repealing climate change policies set during the Obama administration. In addition to cutting funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by 31 percent, he has also expressed interest in reviving the coal industry — something that President Obama aimed to diminish. Though 75 percent of Americans support regulating carbon dioxide emissions, the White House and Congress are pursuing actions that would limit such regulations. What do you think of the Trump administration's actions regarding climate change, and what can be done to align these disparate goals?
(03/28/17 7:27am)
On Nov. 8, 2016, Donald Trump managed to pull off one of the most upsetting victories in American history: He defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the electoral college despite losing the popular vote. Although there are many factors that affected the election — such as voter turnout, the Democratic National Committee hacking and Clinton’s email investigation — no one can doubt that Trump’s appeal to American workers — especially to those in the Rust Belt —contributed to the outcome. The Rust Belt is a term coined in the early 1980s referring to the mass layoffs in the region spanning parts of the Northeast to the upper Midwest States. These states have experienced perpetual economic decline due to deindustrialization in the manufacturing industry, which is primarily due to the massive trade imbalances between the United States and other countries, most notably China. As of today, the United States imports over $347 billion more goods from China than we export, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. This extraordinary trade imbalance is the main cause of this deindustrialization in the Rust Belt; cheaper goods benefit the consumer, but the job loss is cancerous to the American worker.
(03/28/17 7:25am)
For the third time in little more than a year, an American football team is packing its bags and moving away. The Oakland Raiders are relocating to Las Vegas, where they await $650 million from Bank of America and $750 million from taxpayers in order to finance a new stadium, according to a March 27 MarketWatch article. The team has the blessings of the National Football League, an organization that is willing to overlook its aversion to sports gambling and small television markets if it can partake in the extortion of yet another community. In the NFL, teams are forever on the prowl for new markets and fancier stadiums, and whatever city is foolish enough to waste public funds on courting a professional football team can part ways with their money with great ease.
(03/28/17 7:24am)
Notable Swiss psychologist and expert in childhood development, Jean Piaget, once said, “Only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent or gradual.”
(03/28/17 7:20am)
From bigotry to general incompetence, President Donald Trump invites enough criticism on enough of his personal attributes to fill volumes and volumes of books — and commentary on his policies could easily fill a matching set. His proposed budget for the 2018 fiscal year provides an itemized list of such criticisms, and some of these items warrant more critical attention than they have thus far received. Trump’s continued disregard for the concerns of marginalized groups is alarming and unacceptable, but not altogether surprising, as he has no observable stake in the well-being of these people and can therefore selfishly ignore them. The president’s stance on other issues, however, is slightly more surprising, as they hit a little closer to home and actually affect Trump and his groupies. As such, it is in Trump’s best interest to reconsider certain measures on his proposed budget, particularly those regarding the environment and education, because they will hurt everyone — privileged billionaire or not. Trump’s current agenda seems counterproductive to the point of being downright self-destructive. Opponents need not even teach Trump a bit of compassion or human decency, as they do in other situations, in order to persuade him against his environment- and education-related budget points; self-preservation should be enough to convince him to alter course, if he has the same instinct as even the most basic organism.
(03/28/17 7:21am)
Beginning March 23, the University hosted a two-day symposium titled "Black Lives Matter: Local Movements, Global Futures." The symposium sought to help Brandeis students relate their own experiences with the Black Lives Matter movement to those of other activists on a global scale. This board commends the University for recognizing the importance of this movement through the creation of this symposium.
(03/28/17 7:22am)
This past week, the University held a panel showcasing a variety of female leaders in the workforce and their impact on women’s empowerment in such a space. This board commends the efforts of the University to uphold its commitment to diversity and, more specifically, to female leadership. In past weeks, this board has discussed the issue of diversity through the lens of race and ethnicity; however, gender equality is an equally important and just cause which needs to be addressed.
(03/21/17 5:59am)
I was very troubled to see the Justice article titled “Task force engages talk on campus free speech” on the front page of the March 14, 2017 edition of The Justice. For those who did not see the article, it featured a photograph of a person of color, speaking on the lack of diversity at an open meeting of the Presidential Task Force on Free Expression. The speaker kindly asked not to be photographed. In response, the paper brandished her photo across its front page. Perhaps your paper can publish what it wishes, but the tone and disrespect shown to other Brandeis students is unbecoming of a student newspaper, and makes me wonder if your staff has any inkling that not everyone lives the same lives that they do.
(03/21/17 5:13am)
On Monday, March 13, the Brandeis community received an email announcing the #1Gift1Vote Challenge, a fundraising campaign that gives members of the community an opportunity to show their “passion for a program that is the most meaningful” to them. Provost Lisa M. Lynch has made an unrestricted gift of $10,000 that students can choose how to apportion. This board commends the University for its initiative and Lynch for her commitment to this institution.
(03/21/17 5:13am)
Midterms, BranVans, housing — these are the things that stress Brandeis students out from year to year. However, this year’s housing lottery was especially stressful for upperclassmen students, as a programming error resulted in rising seniors receiving lower numbers than rising juniors, thereby necessitating the reissuance of numbers, according to a March 16 email from Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Tim Touchette.
(03/21/17 5:12am)
For college students, it is often difficult to get a good night’s rest; with assignments, extracurricular activities and other time consuming commitments, some students often opt to forgo an extra hour of sleep to ensure that they meet a deadline. Though one’s dedication to work should be commended, it should also be remembered that sleep is vital for one’s well-being.According to the National Institute of Health, a good night’s rest helps improve learning and problem solving skills in addition to enhancing one’s productivity, all of which are important in the competitive college environment.
(03/21/17 5:11am)
I have not eaten meat in 10 years — that is nearly half of my life. This is a choice I share with 3.2 percent of Americans ― or 7.3 million people ― according to Vegetarian Times. Vegetarians make up 2.7 percent of this statistic and the other 0.5 percent ― 1 million Americans ― are vegan. Among these individuals are those who diligently follow People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or environmental activist groups. Those in these categories may consume Morningstar Farms and Boca Burgers like they are going out of style. However, for the larger percent of Americans ― omnivores ― these groups and perhaps these food choices fail to appeal to them in place of meat products. With new products like the Impossible Burger, cruelty-free living and environmental preservation no longer have to be tied to vegan and vegetarian diets.
(03/21/17 5:10am)
On March 6, the Republican Party revealed their new plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Under this new bill, the American Health Care Act, premiums are proposed to decrease 10 percent by the year 2026. However, this would also result in a 25 percent decrease in Medicaid funding and the lack of coverage for 52 million Americans, according to a March 13 New York Times article. What do you think of this new proposal and how does it compare to the Affordable Care Act?
(03/21/17 5:08am)
I have some bad news, fellow liberals — this is going to be another one of those pieces about free speech on college campuses. I know, I know; you have heard it all before, that college students are fragile and scream until what they do not like goes away. What snowflakes. While this will not be a glowing review of the current status of free speech on college campuses, it will not be another one of those articles. However, with recent events at Middlebury and the Task Force on Free Expression, something needed to be said.
(03/21/17 5:05am)
Coral reefs epitomize the beauty and fragility of the world’s ecosystems, but increased ocean temperatures due to carbon emissions mean that even small, local temperature spikes threaten to wipe out swaths of corals already pushed to their limits. This week, as President Donald Trump’s cabinet pulled the wraps off a budget that denies the importance of climate change, researchers at James Cook University in Australia found that the Great Barrier Reef is dying thirty years ahead of schedule due to — you guessed it — rising ocean temperatures. According to a March 15 New York Times article, Professor Terry Hughes of James Cook University stated, “Climate change is not a future threat. On the Great Barrier Reef, it’s been happening for 18 years.” We must protect coral reefs not only for their beauty but also because they are hubs of biodiversity. They are the source of many necessary nutrients in the marine food chain and they also protect coastlines from storms by acting as a natural barrier.
(03/14/17 7:22am)
On Feb. 20, the United Nations officially declared a famine state for two counties in South Sudan, the first since 2012. This is a result of the country's over three-year civil war and government orders to block food aid in certain areas, according to a Feb. 21 Al Jazeera article. To prevent the effects of famine, including the starvation of 5 million, the UN would need to raise 4.4 billion dollars by the end of March. How do you think the UN should approach this issue, and how can it most effectively get involved?
(03/14/17 7:20am)
The 2017 election for president of the Student Union has yielded three well-qualified candidates, all of whom share worthy goals and an admirable passion for the University. While Jacob Edelman ’18, Shaquan McDowell ’18 and Paul Sindberg ’18 have communicated similar objectives — such as increased accessibility to menstrual products — this board has decided to endorse Edelman as the next Union president. His clearer plans of implementation demonstrate bold visions, as well as an awareness of the necessary actions to bring those visions to fruition.
