The Tampa Bay Rays, Buccaneers, and Lightning released a joint statement today pledging to fund the removal of a Confederate statue in downtown Tampa Bay, Florida. The funding comes just in time. Last month, city commissioners approved the removal of the statue and set a 30-day deadline to raise the $280,000 needed to remove the…
Recently resigned Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn speaking in China, May 15, 2017. Lan Hongguang/Xinhua News Agency/Press Association. All rights reserved.The crisis in Ethiopia has suddenly gained momentum and reached a tipping point. Things could go either way. The country could dig itself even deeper, with consequences that don’t bear thinking about. Or there could…
Sometimes, it’s really not the airline’s fault. During a United Airlines flight from Shanghai, China, to New Jersey, an unnamed passenger reportedly became disruptive. Before the flight was over, he’d become a viral meme, but not in the way he’d hoped. First, he tried to take another passenger’s seat, screaming, “I am entitled to that…
We’ve heard it all before: For every job a human can do, there’s a robot that can do it better, faster, and without posting whiny memes about the Monday struggle. But when a researcher decided to test a robot’s ability to complete one job requiring a specific kind of creativity, she was pleasantly surprised to…
Hannah Arendt in 1944. Portrait by photographer Fred Stein (1909-1967) who emigrated 1933 from Nazi Germany to France and finally to the USA. Fred Stein/Press Association. All rights reserved.In this Festrede, I will try to use an Arendtian inspiration (the "right to have rights” and “citizenship in the making”) to address current developments in the…
Between California’s $2 tax hike on cigarette packs and culturally adopted bans on smoking indoors, it probably won’t come as a surprise that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now moving to make its own adjustments to the health-hazardous tobacco industry. Instead of going after cigarettes directly, the FDA has proposed regulating the amount…
THE GOOD NEWS: Making a big difference for your community can begin with simple actions in your neighborhood. Over the last century, Assyrians have experienced waves of persecution and genocide followed by worldwide migration, with a large population of these Iraqi Christians settling in Michigan. People in this religious and socially conservative group have made…
Feb. 1, 2016 – Cairo, Egypt – Al Ahly fans, the ''Ultras'', light flares and shout slogans in the club's training stadium, marking the fourth anniversary of killing al-Ahly fans known as the ''Port Said massacre''. Amr Sayed/Zuma Press/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The Ultras recent re-emergence in a football match between Al-Ahly and Monana…
College is stressful enough without worrying about events back home. For students from Puerto Rico, it must seem impossible. Roughly 77% of the Puerto Rico is still without electricity, and 26% do not have access to clean drinking water, even a month after the storm, according to AJ+. But thanks to a few schools across the country,…
January 23, 2018 – Ajmer, Rajasthan, India – Indian national congress and BJP supporters during campaign on bye-elections. Shaukat Ahmed/Press Association. All rights reserved.Commenting on democracy in Great Britain, a north European journalist attributed its ills to “too much competition”. His own country is accustomed to a much gentler version of the democratic order. If…