Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, has given hope to the world that Iran will cooperate with the global community to remove any “reasonable concerns” over the Iranian nuclear program. However, as moderate and cooperative as he seems, the world has been watching—to no avail—for a handshake between Rouhani and Obama at the United Nations General…
Unless you were completely unplugged this summer, you’ve probably heard about The Cuckoo’s Calling, the first installment in a new crime fiction series by “debut” author Robert Galbraith. The Cuckoo’s Calling was published in April 2013, but it wasn’t until August that J.K. Rowling was revealed as the true author, which basically caused the internet…
View the counterpoint here. Well, we are back at square one again, again. This fall, Congress must decide whether or not to raise the debt ceiling, allowing the United States to borrow more money to meet our financial obligations while also increasing the national debt. The debt limit is always a divisive issue whenever it…
View the counterpoint here. Consider the current political system. Anyone not cynical about the lack of willingness within Congress to work together and work constructively to solve problems has not seen the news in years. The current attitude toward politics is disappointment, quickly approaching anger. To gain a full appreciation of just how destructive politics…
I try not to judge a book by its cover, but the main reason I picked up this book was for its bright yellow sleeve with a silhouette of a young Nigerian woman entitled Little Bee. After reading the short summary on the inside cover I was immediately intrigued. As a huge fan of stories…
The rest of the world could only watch in horror this week as members of the radical Islamist al-Shabaab militant group killed and wounded hundreds of people last weekend. The horrifying massacre brought forward ghosts past mass shootings and acts of terrorism, both of which Americans have had to witness in spades the last few…
For many Minnesotans, the acronym BWCA brings back memories of time spent reconnecting with nature in one of the United States’ most beautiful places. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is a wilderness area with restricted mining, logging, and motorized access and managed by the Superior National Forest, created in 1978. Avid campers, hikers, and adventurers…
The Republican dominated House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday which would cut roughly $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the coming decade. Representative and Majority Leader Eric Cantor who was the leading force behind the bill stated that, “[It was] wrong for working, middle-class people to pay [for SNAP],” citing…
At present, Congress has an approval rating of 14 percent. The truly concerning thing about this statistic is that it’s not that low because Americans disagree with the laws Congress is passing. They’re angry that Congress isn’t passing any laws at all. Americans are increasingly doubtful that Congress is a functional institution. The 112th Congress,…
It seems like so long ago that Hosni Mubarak’s regime finally toppled after months of protests. After a century of unrest in the Middle East, it seemed as though democracy was on the way in and dictators were on the way out. Now this sense of optimism seems to be fading into memory. All around…