Zombie movies used to be metaphorical––the walking dead represented something like postmodern ennui. But now, thanks to the rise of the anti-vaccination movement, the threat of an illness sweeping through society is real. And this is how it starts: two individuals with confirmed cases of measles traveled through Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) recently, potentially …

In a massive poll of over 150,000 people around the world, Americans rank among the most stressed out people on the planet. Some 55 percent of adults reported experiencing stress during “a lot of the day,” with another 45 percent feeling “a lot” of worry the previous day. Compare those numbers to 35 and 39 …

Uber is set to IPO on May 8, and it promises to be among the most significant IPOs of the season. While investors may be licking their chops for a piece of that action, the drivers themselves are not so excited. Uber drivers in seven cities are planning to strike on that same day, with …

After a tremendous stressful few weeks of back-and-forth among Attorney General Barr, the Trump administration, and the Mueller team, the Mueller report has finally been released. The massive, 400-page document was redacted by William Barr in the name of security. Ultimately, the report did not exonerate the Trump campaign from conclusion, just as George Conway …

Colorado has passed a law allowing sheriffs to confiscate a person’s guns, if that person posed a threat to him- or herself or others. The governor, a supporter of the bill, is expected to sign it into law. Nearly 50 of the state’s 62 elected sheriffs have opposed the bill, believing it would jeopardize deputies …

In 2008, a gay marriage bill failed in California. Read that again: California. How could it happen? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints lobbied hard to make sure it failed. Then, in 2015, the church banned the children of LGBT members from being baptized. The church’s stance seemed to be decided on LGBT issues: it was going to be strict. This past week, however, the church announced a surprising reversal. The children of LGBT members now can be baptized. 

The news is especially surprising given the recent decision by the United Methodist Church, which recent narrowly voted to prohibit gay marriage within the church and bar gay members from leadership. The vote was narrow, however, and may lead to future church schisms. 

That, perhaps, may explain the LDS decision to loosen its policies on the children of gay members. The sheer amount of backlash the church received when they first announced that decision was impressive, but the church could not immediately back down without appearing weak. After waiting an appropriate amount of time, they were able to ease up a bit and still save face. The Methodist decision likely reminded the LDS how divisive this could be, so appearing to give way a bit might appease some of the more liberal church members. 

More about religion.

The college admissions scandal is breaking in waves. Every few days it seems like there are new aspects to the story breaking. Last week, Yale University  revoked the admission of a student linked to the college cheating scandal. Yale has not announced the student’s exact relationship to the scandal. Rudy Meredith, Yale’s former women’s soccer coach, has been charged with accepting a whopping $400,000 bribe to accept a student who didn’t play soccer. USC has blocked students linked to the scandal from registering for classes or collecting their transcripts.

One mother,  Jennifer Kay Toy, alleges that Loughlin and Huffman’s actions prevented her child from getting into a top school. She is suing Loughlin and Huffman for a jaw-dropping $500 billion. And that just about sums up one of the major problems with college admissions––and the reason that these rich parents bribed their kids’ ways into college in the first place. It’s called snowplow parenting. 

Snowplow parenting is not like helicopter parenting, which describes parents who hover around their kids trying to protect them from everything possible. Snowplow parents don’t hover above their kids––they are always in front of their kids, pushing every obstacle out of their way. These are the parents who spend hundreds of thousands on bribes to make sure their kids can get into school, or who organize every aspect of their kids’ day to make sure they’re on the path to success. The problem is that these parents aren’t helping their kids in the long run––they’re setting their kids up for failure because they never learn how to provide for themselves. 

More education.

The Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the Trump administration-led ban on bump stocks, which enable shooters to fire hundreds of rounds per minute. A gunman using a bump stock killed 58 people in the Las Vegas shooting of 2017. A group called Gun Owners of America, the self-described “the ‘no compromise’ gun lobby,” was the lead plaintiff in the challenge.

The Court’s refusal to hear the case highlights the relatively minor regulation the bump stock ban represents, especially compared with New Zealand’s more sweeping regulation following the recent mosque shooting.

The Court’s decision also follows a spate of suicides involving those who were impacted by mass shootings. Jeremy Richman, 49, recently died of an apparent suicide. His six-year-old daughter, Avielle, died in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school. Richman co-founded the Avielle Foundation, an organization aimed at reducing violent crimes such as the shooting that killed Avielle. 

Before Richman’s death last week, two teenage survivors of the Parkland shooting took their own lives. Sydney Aiello, 19, took her own life after struggling with PTSD and survivor’s guilt. She also struggled to succeed in college because she was afraid to be in a classroom. A few days later, a sophomore survivor took his own life. Police have not yet released his name nor confirmed that his suicide was linked to the shooting, though it is hard to imagine the shooting is not related to his death.

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For two years, the Mueller investigation has been a dark cloud over the Trump administration. This week, we saw the first rays of sunlight as Mueller submitted his report to at Attorney General William Barr. Now that the report is submitted, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered:

What next?  

First, AG Barr will consult wit Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Mueller himself to determine how much of the report will go to Congress and how much will go to the public. Until then, we have to wait to see what the report contains. Adam Schiff has already threatened to subpoena the report if necessary.

So is Trump guilty or what? 

Well, firstly, there will most likely not be additional charges.  So those of you hoping for Trump to be led out of the White House in handcuffs will probably be disappointed. Whatever is in the report will undoubtedly get folded into contemporary political debates. Unfortunately, unless the report is incredibly decisive, both sides of the aisle will probably use the report to justify their own points. 

What was the point of this, anyway? 

For the “lock him up” crowd, this report may be a let down. Some may question the usefulness of the report. But there are two things everyone needs to keep in mind. First, several people have been indicted with crimes as a result of this report. Second, this report shows that the system does work, even if some don’t like the results.

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The government shutdown over Trump’s border wall cost a staggering $11 billion. That estimate includes not only the economic slowdown caused by federal workers’ lack of income (and therefore spending), but also the businesses that those workers patronized, as well as the economic impact of slowed or lost government services.  Some of that financial loss can return. But, as Vox points out, up to $3 billion dollars has vanished from the economy, never to return. The national parks suffered tremendously during the shutdown. The damage from the off-roading, vandalism, and littering in Joshua Tree may take three centuries to undo. 

Trump lost this showdown with the Democrats, but he tried to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by declaring a national emergency. The House of Representatives, however, blocked it. The Senate will likely do the same. 

But, inexplicably, Trump is attempting to secure wall funding again. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic minority leader, issued a joint statement: “Congress refused to fund his wall, and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he learned his lesson.”

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