When people talk about court cases or when they’re depicted on tv, the story ends once the judge reads the jury’s verdict. But that’s not where the story ends for the person convicted. 5-10 years,15-20, 25-life, judges give all kinds ranges in sentence length, but what do they really mean? It means a person will …
Tag: Government
Jul 10
H-2B Visa: The Potential for Forced Labor
When we talk about immigration in this country we almost always focus on undocumented migrants rather than documented ones. Because for some reason, we have this idea that our immigration system has no real issues and we just need to solve the problem of undocumented workers to make it perfect. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the …
Jul 09
Electricity and the Arab Spring
If you were wondering why I missed my post last week, it’s because I was one of the million+ people who lost power during the storm that hit the east coast on the 29th. I was without power for 6 days–almost 7–which meant no internet, no television, no air conditioning, and, since our house has well …
Jul 06
What is the Purpose of Imprisonment?
Over the last month and a half I’ve written a lot about prison reform and the changes that I think are necessary to fix our system. But it occurred to me today that before we can implement any truly sustainable fixes there needs to be an attitudinal shift regarding the purpose of imprisonment. Right now …
Jun 26
Should Convicted Felons Have the Right to Vote?
It’s an election year again. Which means you, just like me, have been getting bombarded with press releases, flyers, news articles, debates, and more information than you could ever possibly require about this round of candidates. Sure, this can be irritating at times, but it’s what you’ve come to expect this time of year and …
Jun 26
Water is Everyone’s Problem
Did you know water was declared a human right in 2010 by the United Nations? Yet, 884 million people are still without access to safe drinking water and, more than 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. These statistics are pretty shocking to me because despite many advances, we are facing this problem in …
Jun 20
Stop and Frisk: A New York Controversy
Stop and Frisk. I’m sure you’ve heard about it but I doubt you’ve personally experienced it or really even thought about how it would feel. Imagine you’re walking in your neighborhood, hanging out in a park, just talking to your friends. All of a sudden a police officer walks up and informs you he needs …
Jun 18
Economics 101
The other day I was shown a semi-viral youtube video that you may have heard of: Quantitative Easing Explained. Now, I don’t know that much about quantitative easing, or the Fed, or Goldman Sachs, so I really cannot say anything about those aspects of the film, but I can say that much of the basic …
Jun 13
Economy vs. Equality: What’s More Important in Visa Law?
You’ve decided you want to come to the United States. So now you’ve got to figure out what kind of visa you qualify for and how you go about getting it. There are 185 types of US visas, all of which have certain requirements and restrictions attached to qualifying for and then using them. The …
May 31
What Happens When the Islands Sink?
Islands around the world are starting to disappear, or “sink”, and the lack of attention to this issue is disturbing. Islands in the South Pacific, Indian Ocean and even the United States are starting to witness continuous rising water levels and stronger storm and tidal surges that threaten to extinct islands and have devastating effects …