Iran has never been touted as a bastion of human rights, economic equality, or political freedom. But although many of Iran’s problems can be blamed on the regime itself, the U.S. is increasingly playing a major hand in hurting the innocent bystanders of an international chess game between itself and its Persian adversary. Iran is facing a growing health crisis due to international sanctions levied against the regime. Many essential medicines including birth control, cancer treatment drugs, and...
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Earlier this week, two Sumatran tigers were born at Washington's National Zoo. Kids and big cat enthusiasts will be delighted — there are only about 500 of these tigers left in the wild. With 65 of these tigers now in captivity in the U.S. alone, and breeding programs like these a key objective, what should the role of zoos be in preserving species? Ideally, they should maintain close linkages with conservation...
Tian Yu, a 17-year old Chinese employee of Foxconn, Apple’s chief supplier and manufacturer of tablet and smart phone devices, was in a coma for 12 days after her suicide attempt. At Foxconn, her managers made her work over 12 hours a day, often without a day off for up to two weeks, and attend unpaid work meetings on top of that. Tian Yu’s demanding work schedule in Foxconn’s sweatshop-like conditions forced her to skip meals and accept the manufacturer’s restricted toilet break policy....
Editor's Note: Every Thursday, I'll be rounding up my favorite pieces from the past week so that PolicyMic Pundits can more easily read and comment on the great content being written about sex, sexuality, gender, and race in politics and culture, in addition to updates from our community and GIFs galore! You can subscribe to get updates delivered straight to your inbox. On Monday, PolicyMic moved into...
Eid is here! After one tough month of hunger and thirst, you're done with Ramadan. That means its time to indulge in all the things you've been avoiding all month. Think of all the food you can eat now, all the water you can drink, and all the awkward Eid hugs you're going to have to give. No more mandatory praying with the family. No more watching television all day because there is nothing else to do. It's Eid!...
On Sunday, the U.S. closed 21 embassies across North Africa and the Middle East and plans to keep 19 of them closed through Saturday. The State Department said that the closings were made out of “an overabundance of caution,” as the intelligence community has reported high risk of a major attack in the works by Al-Qaeda’s cell in Yemen, known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Some have said that the current threat is the most serious since 9/11. Some European nations have also closed their...
1. Obama Cancels High-Profile Meeting With Putin President Obama on Wednesday canceled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled for September; it was the first time since the Cold War the U.S. has canceled plans with Russia. The White House cited a range of issues, including Edward Snowden’s asylum and human rights issues, as reasons for canceling the meeting. The canceled meeting could jeopardize a nuclear arms reduction Obama has been trying to hammer out with Putin and...
As an openly gay Olympic four-time gold medalist, you might expect that I would be in favor of joining prominent LGBT activists in calling for America to boycott the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia. After all, Russia’s recently passed laws cracking down on gays and lesbians violate everything I’ve spent my career fighting for; namely, love and respect for all people. It was hard enough...
In a last ditch effort for tax reform legislation, the top two members of the Senate Finance Committee, Democratic Chairman Max Baucus and Republican Orrin Hatch, assured their fellow senators that any suggestions offered would be kept secret for 50 years. Baucus and Hatch have realized, apparently, that the only way to get anything done in Congress in its current climate of gridlock and finger pointing is to promise mum’s the word for five decades. Yes, this is an utter failure of Congress and its ability...
Just like it happened before the release of many of her other albums, one of the songs off Lady Gaga's upcoming album ARTPOP was leaked on Monday. The song, titled “Burqa/Aura,” is already taking the internet by storm and scores of fans are commenting on what appears to be a demo of the song. As catchy as it might be, the lyrics of the song present troubling portrayals of Muslim women. The recurring, sexualized portrayals of women who wear the burqa, niqab, hijab, or any covering for that matter...
Just this week, Know Your IX, a fantastic new anti-sexual-violence campaign, was launched into the Great Wide World of the Interwebs. Know Your IX seeks to educate college students across the United States about their rights under Title IX, a law that prohibits universities and colleges from gender-based discrimination (it’s more than just sports, y’all). Know Your IX has created a digital repository for related...
The public's approval rating of Congress hovers in the mid-teens, and it's not hard to see why, especially when the GOP-controlled House seems insistent on wasting time with ridiculous bills that are purely symbolic rather than effective. It's no secret that the House has tried to repeal Obamacare over 40 times, which is a travesty when there are so many issues in this country that aren't getting anywhere near the amount of time, effort, and resources they deserve, but the waste doesn't stop there. ...
It is time to bring back dueling. Really. Dueling has admittedly never been popular in America. Even the Founders had difficulty finding states where it was legal. And in America's most famous duel, a great New Yorker and the man on the $10 bill was killed with a bullet to the chest. In fact, people today see dueling as a problem that has been overcome by the Conquering Empire of Light and Reason, rather than a solution to many of the problems that we face on a daily basis. But dueling has much...
Public requests for forgiveness have been on parade lately, given the slew of sex scandals involving public officials (like Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer, and Bob Filner) and performance-enhancing-drug (PED) scandals involving professional athletes (like Alex Rodriguez and a host of other recently suspended MLB players). But as praiseworthy and important a concept as forgiveness is, there's always the danger that it's being applied in a self-serving manner. Take a quick look at what...
Can you say scrambled eggs? In France, poultry farmers pummeled a tax office in Brittany with 100,000 eggs, protesting a fall in prices and increased animal welfare regulations imposed by the EU. The farmers are vowing to destroy 100,000 eggs every day for the rest of the week. The availability and surplus of eggs in France has caused the price to stay below the heightened production prices, which were...
There are numerous events playing out across the world that require President Barack Obama’s attention. Some of them, such as Russia’s decision to grant asylum to NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, have implications for the president’s perceived influence and his stature on the world stage. While it is hard to imagine that Jay Leno asked many questions that had not been preapproved by the Obama administration, Leno compelled Obama to speak substantively on issues ranging from Snowden and his PRISM allegations,...
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