June 19th signifies a holiday that has been celebrated for more than 150 years. A holiday that celebrates the emancipation of African Americans from chattel slavery and the ratification of the 13th amendment. The holiday is known as Juneteenth, Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day. It denotes the date on which slaves were granted freedom in Texas. Today, the holiday is celebrated across the states and even around the world. It is a multicultural jubilation that aims at teaching Black heritage and creating a sense of community. While celebrated in the U.S., there has been growing pursuit for the holiday to…
by Adam Sanders.
The Arab-Israeli Conflict is a very complex topic to address in a blog, so please take that in mind before proceeding. That being said, it is possible at least to address a few key issues of which the greater public should be vaguely aware. Most of us are well aware of the historical background of the Postwar Era and the Arab-Israeli Wars of the 20th century. What is more important is to incisively examine the most recent outbreak of violence between Israel and Hamas. Furthermore, in a similar manner to some issues in America, domestic politics and…
The month of May marks the designation of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which celebrates and recognizes Asian American and Pacific Islander culture, history, and achievements. With this piece, I wanted to delve into the influences that Asian and Pacific Islander culture has made in the way of film. Obviously, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have so much more to offer, but film is something that can easily bridge two cultures that might be radically different and make them seen and heard. Also, the wider appeal that film can grasp, and how many Asian and Pacific Islanders have…
By Adam Sanders
It is no secret that many people employed by the defense sector are not combat soldiers. To be sure, it is ultimately combat soldiers at the front. However, soldiers possess and are trained to use numerous weapons and equipment, and soldiers do not make or purchase them on their own. Additionally, soldiers must live somewhere while deployed. Someone builds the bases, someone cleans the bases, someone cooks the meals, someone manages payroll, and so on and so forth. These may seem like obvious points, but it is important to give a sense of the spiderweb of responsibilities…
By Adam Sanders.
In America, guns and gun control pose unique dilemmas even compared to the country’s other long-unsolved problems. Anyone who pays even passing attention to the news cycle knows that for years or even decades, there is an excruciatingly familiar pattern in this country. A shooting happens, action is demanded, people say, “now is not the time,” and…nothing. Every repeat of this cycle raises important questions. These include questions over why passing gun control legislation is so difficult, what the best legislation would be, and how would such legislation reconcile[CB1] with the Second Amendment? …
Have you ever considered playing Devil’s advocate with your own core beliefs? Have you ever allowed impartiality to discourage any warped information that has tainted your decision-making method? What is the source of this implicit influence regarding one’s choices in solving a problem? The answer lies in the mental shortcuts we take to simplify our information quickly. Moreover, these hasty heuristics are better known as cognitive biases.
In light of making decisions, individuals may allow prepossessed information to influence their real-world choices. More importantly, these heuristics (i.e., mental shortcuts) guide us to answers about how to interpret the world more…
By Adam Sanders.
Election time gets everyone riled up in the U.S. Whether it is the Presidential, Senate, or House races, turnout has been exploding in recent years (along with the vitriol). The talking heads gab, the amount of polling is astronomical, and one is surprised at how frantically septuagenarians can travel around the country. And yet, even in the present day, voters often ignore the type of elections that have the most impact on their day-to-day lives. These races are gubernatorial and state legislature elections. In order to understand the importance of gubernatorial and state legislature elections, one needs…
The VotingSmarter Texas Research Team has been working extremely hard to make sure that you had all of the neutral, easy to understand information to help you become more informed for the Texas municipal elections. We also sent out a survey to all of the candidates to fill out with their information and only a few responded. VotingSmarter keeps it Fair, Fast, and Fun.
Make sure you get informed before you head to the polls on May 1st!
Stay tuned to see how the candidates running feel on 4 issues — infrastructure, covid, policing, and education.
Below are the statements:
In the first week of April, President Joe Biden unveiled his plan to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. The Made in America Tax Plan aims to, “make American companies and workers more competitive by eliminating incentives to offshore investment, substantially reducing profit shifting, countering tax competition on corporate rates, and providing tax preferences for clean energy production. Importantly, this tax plan would generate new funding to pay for a sustained increase in investments in infrastructure, research, and support for manufacturing, fully paying for the investments in the American Jobs Plan over a 15-year period and continuing…
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