Avoid generalizations
By Kimberly Ngoh, Columnist
February 21, 2019
“If you’re from Malaysia, how is your English so good?” Meeting new people in the United States often entails the question of where I am from, wherein my response often garners the above in a surprised tone. Sometimes, it is preceded with a, “That’s so cool!” Or a, “Wait, what? I had n...
Chicago should not be its own state
By Noah Nelson, Columnist
February 21, 2019
Filed under Columns, Opinions, Top Stories
Some things should be left untouched. Illinois State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) filed bill HR0101 in the clerk’s office Feb. 7, which urges the United States Congress to declare the City of Chicago the 51st state of the United States of America and separate it from the rest of Illinois. That same day, Illinois State Reps. Chris Mi...
US deficit suggests impending economic avalanche
By Fred Shoaff, Columnist
February 20, 2019
Filed under Columns, Opinions, Opinions Top Stories, Top Stories
As many of the world economies teeter on the brink of a recession, the richest economy in the world is flirting with stagflation — growing inflation without economic growth — and a trillion-dollar national debt that threatens the global economic expansion. Due to recent tax cuts, military spending an...
We can learn from blockbuster, end-of-world films
By Daniel Jin, Columnist
February 20, 2019
Usually, science fiction movies belong to the West, particularly the United States. “The Martian,” “Ready Player One,” “Pacific Rim” and many other great movies — you name it. However, a brand new Chinese science fiction movie, “The Wandering Earth,” breaks into this field and i...
Trump’s national emergency calls for checks and balances
By Skylar Bouchard, Columnist
February 19, 2019
President Donald Trump has now enacted the National Emergency Act to receive funding for the border wall. Depending on your political beliefs, you may view this as either a positive or negative occurrence. For people on the right side of the political spectrum, this may seem like a long-awaited win,...
Understand data collection in smart home devices
By Sandhya Sivakumar, Columnist
February 19, 2019
Filed under Columns, Opinions, Top Stories
A recent Bloomberg article details how Amazon and Google are looking to continuously collect data from their respective smart home devices to improve their services. While the hardware companies that actually make those devices, like smart lights or televisions, are pushing back against this move in the n...
Smart doorbells encourage bad habits
By Kyra Sadovi, Columnist
February 18, 2019
Filed under Columns, Opinions, Top Stories
While I was volunteering for a congressional candidate in the midterm election, I knocked on doors in neighborhoods around Champaign-Urbana where it seemed nearly every single house had a “smart” doorbell. In retrospect, their prevalence was chilling. For the uninitiated, smart doorbells — devic...
States rights are your rights
By Hayley Nagelberg, Columnist
February 17, 2019
In the last number of weeks, President Trump began to hash out his plans to deploy 3,700 more troops to the southern border of the United States. Two weeks ago, New Mexico’s governor stated that “New Mexico will not take part in the president’s charade of border fear-mongering by misusing our diligent National Guard troops.” Then, just this week, ...
Stop the entitlement
By Lucas Oswald, Columnist
February 16, 2019
You don’t deserve anything. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about you specifically. No one deserves anything. But lately I’ve noticed an uptick in the use of this word “deserve.” People all over social media “deserve” a vacation. They “deserve” that new promotion. They “deserve” ...
Be more curious about the Main Library
By Samuel Kottoor, Columnist
February 15, 2019
Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Perhaps you’ve even been, but I’d wager many of you have never appreciated the entirety of the Main Library. Enclosed by Armory, Sixth and Gregory, the Main Library is an icon on this campus. From the exterior alone, you pick up on the impressiveness of the building....
Voter ID laws cleverly discriminate
By Andrew Prozorovsky, Columnist
February 14, 2019
Filed under Columns, Opinions, Opinions Top Stories, Top Stories
The vote is an inalienable sacrament to our democracy. The principles of this system of government are rooted in every citizen’s inalienable right to vote. An unimpeded ability to vote. An unobstructed path to vote. In the past, America has rejected hindrances to voting such as poll taxes, grandfat...
Valentine’s Day reinforces gender stereotypes
By Jaime Watts, Columnist
February 13, 2019
Valentine’s Day is upon us and for the past month, every store you walk into has one giant red section filled with heart-shaped chocolates and giant teddy bears. Every commercial break has advertisements from jewelry stores talking about how it’s the perfect time for a man to propose and stores lik...
