Columns

RUSSELL | Hippies of Klarman

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I remember the first time I saw it: I was a few steps outside my townhouse, clamoring for something spontaneous to do when, as a godsend in response to my boredom, a girl I vaguely recognized invited me to join her and her friends in a trek to the forbidden lands of a new construction site on Cornell’s campus. Under the protective veil of a late Thursday night, we slipped into the bottom floor of what would soon be my home away from home: Klarman Hall. Back then, it was just stone and sawdust. Now, Klarman is the place where I do most of my work. Whether I’m lucky enough to earn my own chair or condemned to a spot on the floor, I usually find my way to somewhere in the building after my classes during the week.

Columns

DAVIES | E Minus Seven

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Don’t get complacent, Democrats. Donald Trump could still play an ace. Polls have tightened. Though many voters in states like North Carolina have already decided between Hillary Clinton and Trump, there remain high numbers of undecided voters in other battleground states, which could intensify Trump’s benefit from James Comey’s Halloween emails treat. Trump has, for once, resisted turning the attention back on himself.

Opinion

RUBASHKIN | And the White House Goes to…

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We’re almost there, people. After 589 days, 24 debates, 22 candidates and enough talk about Donald Trump’s anatomical proportions to fuel my nightmares for a decade, we’re seven days away from making the most consequential election of our lifetimes. I’d like to sleep easy knowing that we’ll make the right decision, but I watch enough Fox News to know that these days, you can’t take anyone for granted. This is important stuff, America, so close out that Netflix tab you’ve got open and meet me over in paragraph three. Hey guys, glad you could make it on such short notice.

Columns

HAGOPIAN | Why Bashing Trump Supporters is Cool

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I recently read an online article entitled “Why Bashing Trump Supporters isn’t Cool.” Here’s the link if you want to check it out. The author of the piece, one Caitlin Johnstone, condemns jokes that are at the expense of Trump supporters, calling them “classist condescension.” She writes:

“If I see one more millionaire comedian go to a Trump rally and make fun of how low-class and uneducated some of his supporters are, I’m gonna put my fist through my computer. I mean for God’s sake, duh, yes, many of them are lower class and under-educated. That’s the problem. That’s why they’re angry.

Columns

GROSKAUFMANIS | Publisher’s Dilemma

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The 24-hour news cycle during an election is its own type of arms race: media outlets all want the story, they want the story first and they need to match the information of their competitors in order to win over an evolving readership. Journalism has always been motivated by this kind of competition. However, now that the news isn’t always punctuated by a print cycle, and is made boundless by the Internet, the pace has been accelerated and certain considerations are becoming sloppy. Now add the fact that new documents, WikiLeaks, have been added into the category of “what news competitors have in their arsenal” and the information arms race is brought to a level that is not only competitive, but potentially unethical. The media matters a lot in any election.

Columns

WEISSMANN | Taking America’s Pulse

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I recently read a piece of advice that asked writers to pinpoint the topic, issue or event they would least like to write about, and then go write about it. Mine wasn’t a difficult answer: the all-consuming political hellhole that is the current election. So, here goes. Wait! Do not stop reading.

Columns

KOWALEWSKI | Basic Integrity

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If Donald Trump wins, I’ll be beyond upset. But I will accept the judgment of the American people, and so will his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Further, despite his vehement disagreements with Trump, President Obama would quickly move to continue our nation’s long tradition of peaceful transfer of power. Of course, there would be widespread outrage and protest after Trump’s victory. However, the core players of our political system would respect the outcome and uphold our constitutional structure.

Columns

GLANZEL | Paul Ryan Is Right

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Speaker Paul Ryan (R–Wisc.) has not had a good couple of weeks. Because of his rejection of Donald Trump, it seems as if most of the Republican Party is in an all-out rebellion against its highest-ranking figure in the federal government. Furthermore, Mr. Trump seems bent on destroying the Speaker’s reputation, as the Republican nominee has launched a massive attack on Mr. Ryan’s character, ability to govern and competence. Personally, I find these attacks to be disgusting — and I think it would be helpful to address each of the attacks on the Speaker. First, the pure hatred that Mr. Ryan has received in the wake of his rebuke of Trump is, quite frankly, unbelievable.

Columns

RUSSELL | Gravity, Government and Google

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The final scene in the movie Gravity has always stuck with me. It’s beautiful: after 90 minutes of nail-biting space hullabaloo, viewers watch Sandra Bullock’s character swim out from the underwater wreckage of a spacecraft and gratifyingly tread up to the surface. It’s a long-awaited denouement, the moment when she finally reaches home. When her head rises from the water, you can hear mosquitoes and see the outlines of mountains in the distance. Her gargantuan breaths feel like a chorus of voices proclaiming the magnificence of earth and everything in it.

Columns

RUBASHKIN | Crashing the Third Party

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Shortly before submitting this column, I slipped an absentee ballot, addressed to the Montgomery County Board of Elections, into a mailbox by the Cornell Store. When filling out that ballot I was presented with four options for president of the United States — many Americans will see those same four options, although some will see fewer, and some will see more. But it is important to recognize that, although I could have technically selected Gov. Gary “What is Aleppo?” Johnson or Dr. Jill “I would not have killed Osama bin Laden” Stein, or written in Evan “Egg McMuffin” McMullin, there were really only two choices on that ballot: Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump. One of those two will become president. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has consistently polled in the high single digits and will mostly likely take the largest share of the vote by a third-party candidate since Ross Perot won 19 percent and 8 percent in 1992 and 1996, respectively.