Blog 3 Columns

California Has the Highest Poverty Rate in America. Why?0
- Economics
- January 17, 2018
Can you guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the U.S.? Many people would say Mississippi. That’s how I would have responded if you had asked me this morning, and I would have been right in a sense. There are two different ways to measure poverty, you see. One accounts for cost-of-living in
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7 Timeless Life Lessons from Marcus Aurelius 0
- Education
- January 17, 2018
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.), the last of Rome’s Five Great Emperors, was a study of contrasts. In many ways he was the paradigm of Plato’s philosopher king, yet his reign—which began in 161 A.D. following the death of his adopted father, Antonius Pius—was marred by war and revolt. He was heavily influenced by the thinking
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3 Out of 4 Terrorists Since 9/11 Are Foreign-Born 0
- Politics
- January 17, 2018
About three-fourths of those convicted on terrorism charges since 9/11 are foreign-born—and more than half of those aren’t U.S. citizens, according to a new report from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Still, the joint report issued Tuesday finds that prosecutors lodged more than half of all terrorism charges—295 out of 549—against
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When Feeding the Homeless Becomes a Crime 0
- Politics
- January 16, 2018
More than a dozen people were recently arrested in El Cajon, California. Their crime? They were feeding the homeless. “The arrests come in the wake of a newly enacted city ordinance banning people from feeding the homeless in public,” a local news station reported. The group was aware of the ordinance, the report said, but
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The FBI’s Attacks on MLK, Jr. Are Helpful Reminders for Today 0
- History
- January 16, 2018
Writing for the Wall Street Journal in 2005, federal judge and former U.S. deputy attorney general Laurence Silberman recalled how he was “shocked” to discover the extent the FBI abused its power to spy on Americans. Speaking of the first time he reviewed the files of J. Edgar Hoover, Silberman writes how Hoover tasked “his agents with reporting
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Can #MeToo Feminism and the Hookup Culture Coexist?0
- Culture
- January 16, 2018
There is a scene in the 2017 hit romantic comedy The Big Sick that shows the perfect one-night stand. The protagonist, a 30-something Pakistani immigrant named Kumail (played by Kumail Nanjiani of HBO’s Silicon Valley), meets an attractive grad student (Zoe Kazan) at a Chicago comedy club where he moonlights as a comedian. They have
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California Makes 20x What Gas-Station Owners Make on a Gallon of Gasoline, After Tax Hike 0
- Economics
- January 16, 2018
California drivers experienced sticker shock at the gas pump on Nov. 1. The state’s gasoline tax rose by 12 cents per gallon that day, bringing the total to 39.8 cents. Along with the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents, Californians now pay 58.2 cents in excise taxes per gallon. Like all other states with sales
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A Modest Proposal to Break Up Higher Ed 0
- Education
- January 16, 2018
Many today regard America’s college system as broken, and would like to see it broken up. As the argument goes, too many kids are being pushed toward college only to receive a substandard education that leaves them with a crushing amount of debt. In my opinion, the biggest obstacle to accomplishing the breakup of the
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7 Ways Tech Executives Limit Their Children’s Internet Usage 0
- Culture
- January 16, 2018
When a friend of mine mentioned that her daughter had developed greater interest in reading in recent weeks, I responded with enthusiasm. Opening her eyes wide in mock innocence she went on to say, “It happened after we got rid of our home Wi-Fi. Imagine that!” Such a move may seem alarming – and perhaps
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California Has the Highest Poverty Rate in America. Why?0