Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in The Swamp.
Single Payer Health Care: How We Can Achieve It, a Call to Action
Republicans don’t want single-payer because they really would prefer we pay for everything, from healthcare, to education. Forget about conceding to party lines. Think about who needs health care and why they need it. The CDC figures that as of 2012, 117 million people have chronic illnesses. We Americans are not as healthy as we would like to imagine. Our entire system is in decay, with extreme bills making people unable to keep up their payments when treating a chronic health condition. This is frustrating to many of us average folk who see billionaires getting immense tax breaks. The money just piles on, since the majority of Americans are far from being the 1%.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in The Swamp
Media Theory Analysis
By way of examining the western society through the lens of media and the press, several perspectives persist in regard to the media and culture. Specifically, Libertarian, Social Responsibility, and Political Economic Theories are the main mass media perspectives that frame the modern press, which in turn dictated how the information was integrated by the press and whom it is reported by. Although the Social Responsibility Theory is an outgrowth of Libertarian Theory, there exist undeniable contrasts due to the press' change in restrictions on explicit material, in keeping with the Political Economic Theory, which is highly controlled by the government and thus different from the public speech (unlike the Lib and Social Theories).
By Mila Malik8 years ago in The Swamp
The Truth Behind Police Violence in America
I finally had the courage to tell my Great Aunt Genie what I want to be when I grow up. Under my breath I said timidly, “I’m going to be a police officer”. Like always, she comes back at me with her leftist response. “Oh, dear, police are nothing like they used to be. I remember when they would protect the people, not shoot them.” I don’t know if you have ever had an elephant’s foot pound on your chest, compressing all the air out of you, but I have. I felt chained down to my chair. Her words crushed me. Hearing false stereotypes about one of the positions you’ve been dreaming about filling one day isn’t the easiest conversation to hold over Thanksgiving dinner.
By Summer Schoening8 years ago in The Swamp
Why We All Step Back From Politics
“Politicians care only about progressing their own power not helping the people they jovially serve.” You’re walking into McDonald's, contemplating your order. You’re feeling for some beef right now. There are multiple tills open but you walk up to till 4.
By Sophie Young8 years ago in The Swamp
The Best Political Cartoons from the 1800s
Sometimes claiming to be messages to the president of their times, otherwise becoming satirical in nature of their very period, more often than not reshaping the very climate of policy and diplomacy in the range of world politics, caricatures, or cartoons, are the very promise of a smile in a time of fearful resentment. It is no different among the canals of misshapen abolitionist violence and civil unrest so associated with the 1800s, in which a time of peace soon became a time of war in many parts of the world, as with the American Civil War and the French inner-fighting between that of Bonaparte and Pitt. Though none will come as close as the satire on American politics made by the "Join or Die" cartoon drawn by none other than Benjamin Franklin, the following examples should give reference to the very quintessential of all cartoons that helped draw a line between the unfavorable and unlikable dimensions of government outreach.
By Donald Gray8 years ago in The Swamp
Most Ridiculous Things Ivanka Trump Has Said Ever
The most ridiculous things Ivanka Trump has said ever come from her own books as well as her social media accounts and interviews. These are things you just can't make up. Of all the quotes she has said that makes you stop and go... wait what? These are the top ten most ridiculous.
By Leanna Davis8 years ago in The Swamp
The American Nightmare
“It seems that many Americans covet the easy road to the Dream and in the process undercut the core values that established the Dream in the first place” (Warshauer). Due to the lack of respect for the morals on which the American Dream is founded, it is impossible to achieve. The notion of economic and social success is an illusion which has denied the reality of American life for the greater majority of Americans. Moreover, the United States’ economy is experiencing the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and it is directly correlated with the public opinion of the American Dream. A sense of entitlement is causing a decline in work effort while creating an inability to be satisfied with what one has already obtained. Americans are too slothful and unmotivated to apply themselves fully to succeeding. These factors contribute to the newfound impossibility of the American Dream.
By Ollyvir Reagan8 years ago in The Swamp
Controversial Freedoms
By the time most American students enter high school, they have been acquainted with the Constitution of this country and more specifically the First Amendment. The amendment that protects the American peoples’ right to free speech, protects press/media, and protects the freedom of worship and religion. Because these freedoms and protections have been in our Constitution since the foundation of our country, they seem required for any functioning democracy. However, this is not always the case, while these freedoms and protections help a democracy survive and succeed, they are not required for democracy to work. European nations are perfect examples of this, the two most notable examples are in England and in France. England passed strong “anti-slander laws” approved by their parliament in 2013, which says anybody who hurts someone through publication/general publicity, can be charged under this law. In France, all conspicuous religious symbols in public are banned, including the Hijab and the burka, which are instrumental to the Muslim faith.
By Jonah Yannis8 years ago in The Swamp
What Does Our Future Hold?
Humanity is at its peak of development. We live in the age of advancement, whether it's space travel, cancer treatment, or virtual reality. With such an exponential growth of wealth and technologies, one must wonder, what does our future hold?
By Patrick Wilson8 years ago in The Swamp
Reasons Why Martial Artists Shouldn't Support Trump
I have been a practitioner of the martial arts for twenty+ years. My very first exposure to what would later become a lifelong passion was the pilot episode of the short-live program called The Master starring Lee Van Cleef and the famous Sho Kosugi. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, the central plot was that of a war veteran named John Peter McAllister who stayed in Japan at the end of the war and became the first westerner initiated into the ways of the ninja. He later learns that he has a daughter in the United States and leaves the ninja clan to find her. As you can imagine, this didn’t go over to well with the clan so they send Okasa (Sho Kosugi) after him. Along the way, McAllister meets up with Max Keller, a young man with a strong sense of justice and a good heart but leaps before he thinks. McAllister takes on the young Max as an apprentice and together they search for the Master’s daughter while solving a new problem each week. Think Knight Rider, only with ninja instead of a talking car.
By Jason Bowles8 years ago in The Swamp
Propaganda: Better With or Without It?
“Propaganda is indifferent to truth and truthfulness, knowledge and understanding; it is a form of strategic communication that uses any means to accomplish its ends.” (Walter Cunningham). Humanity, always going forward to the future, living in the world of present and looking in the old window of history, can track the evolution of propaganda and its transformation into various types of mass media for many different purposes. This form of information has emotional impact that attempts to shape perceptions, influencing the attitude of a population and manipulating cognitions always toward some political, ideological, or commercial causes.
By Gregory Swetly8 years ago in The Swamp
Government Economic Forecasting, Mythology, or Science?
As a retired estimating and costing engineer, I see so much reliance based on estimates that cannot possibly have a shred of accuracy; by accuracy I mean the engineering estimators allowance of + or – 2%. One quote I saw today is, unfortunately, true: the economic forecasting from British bureaucrats makes astrology look a science.
By Peter Rose8 years ago in The Swamp
