How FDR changed the Federal government with the Social Security Act to help generations of Americans
In August of 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. While he had already put in place new measures to regulate business and banking and had provided temporary work relief to combat the Depression, this law permanently...
Musk’s X tries to supplement its toxic hate speech with user posts featuring adult pornographic content
The beleaguered social media platform X said it would formally allow people to show consensual adult pornographic content, as long as it is clearly labeled as such. The move made official a policy already in place when the platform was known as Twitter, before...
Identity development: How living in the public sphere of social media damages the well-being of children
By Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast Over recent months, a number of politicians have supported calls to ban social media for children under 16. Currently, kids under 13 are not allowed to use social media. There is some...
Souls of ancestors: Cambodia welcomes repatriated statues looted over decades of turmoil
The recent return to Cambodia of 14 sculptures that had been looted from the country during a period of war and unrest was like welcoming home the souls of ancestors, Cambodia’s culture minister said. The items repatriated from New York’s Metropolitan...
Fear of the water: How a menacing monster in the movie “Jaws” inspired a generation of shark scientists
By Gavin Naylor, Director of Florida Program for Shark Research, University of Florida Human fear of sharks has deep roots. Written works and art from the ancient world contain references to sharks preying on sailors as early as the eighth century B.C.E. Relayed back...
Just reporting news: Why America’s mainstream media has failed to defend democracy against Trump
Donald Trump and many of his supporters have explicitly promised to overturn American democracy, using Viktor Orbán’s “illiberal democracy” Hungarian model where the press is controlled, political opposition sidelined or imprisoned, and oligarchs run the government as...
Brute force behavior: Why greed and corruption are the heart of the Republican grift to save America
The complaint of Republican vice presidential candidate Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) recently on CNN that Democrats are bullying him by calling him weird has stuck with me. As I wrote at the time, Republicans have made punching down their stock in trade for decades, and...
An American insult: How the meaning of being a “sellout” was shaped by political corruption
By Ian Afflerbach, Associate Professor of American Literature, University of North Georgia If you follow politics, sports, Hollywood or the arts, you have no doubt heard the insult “sellout” thrown around to describe someone perceived to have betrayed a core principle...
Moments of Joy: A visual look at the historic 2024 Democratic National Convention
Thousands of Democratic delegates officially made Vice President Kamala Harris their nominee in early August, and have now reiterated their choice in a celebratory roll call of states on August 20. It was one of a number of unprecedented moments to come as part of the...
Ukraine marks 33rd Independence anniversary without fireworks or parades as war against Russia rages
A somber atmosphere pervades Ukraine’s 33rd Independence Day on August 24, as the nation’s war against Russia’s aggression reaches a 30-month milestone. No fireworks, parades, or concerts are planned and instead Ukrainians will mark the day with...
A new way forward: Kamala Harris accepts Democratic nomination for president on final day of DNC 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris called on Americans to join her to “chart a new way forward” as she accepted the Democratic nomination on December 22, arguing her personal story and prosecutorial background made her uniquely qualified to protect their...
Bringing the joy: Tim Walz accepts the Democratic Party’s nomination for Vice President
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepted his party’s nomination for vice president on August 21, using his Democratic National Convention address to thank the packed arena for “bringing the joy” to an election transformed by the elevation of his running...
