Women in Afghanistan Being Erased from Public Life
Women in Afghanistan no longer have a voice or a public presence. In the two years since the Taliban seized control in Afghanistan, women’s rights have been disappearing. The Taliban is a fundamentalist group that follows a strict conservative and religious set of Islamic principles. It has banned girls from attending school beyond the sixth […]
The Story of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team
In 2017, the Afghan girl’s robotics team made headlines worldwide when they won a silver medal at the first Global Challenge international robotics competition in Washington, D.C. At the end of 2021, the girls left Afghanistan as the country was falling back under Taliban control. The story of the robotics team is continuing to make […]
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Afghanistan Faces Humanitarian Crisis In September 2021, President Joe Biden withdrew all American troops from Afghanistan. American soldiers had been stationed there for twenty years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The United States goals during this time were to remove the Taliban from power and encourage the formation of a stable democracy […]
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Hispanic Heritage Month Every year, Hispanic Heritage Month is observed in the United States from September 15 to October 15. This provides an opportunity for Americans to celebrate and recognize the contributions, cultures, and traditions of Hispanic Americans . When was the first Hispanic Heritage Month? President Lyndon Johnson’s administration began observing Hispanic Heritage Week […]
Afghanistan Falls to the Taliban
This week’s Election Central post describes the dramatic events that occurred in Afghanistan last week. September 11, 2021, was the Biden administration’s deadline for removing all U.S. military personnel from Afghanistan. However, as the U.S. began pulling out of the country, the Taliban has taken over with shocking speed. Now, the Taliban have regained control […]
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Higher Pork Prices Coming? In 2018, voters in California overwhelmingly approved an animal rights proposition (Proposition 12, the Farm Animal Confinement Proposition). It required more space for breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens, and calves. The law applies not only to California farmers, but to any products imported by California from other states. Only 4 percent of […]
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Ida B. Wells Monument Unveiled in Chicago Ida B. Wells was an enslaved person who later became a newspaper editor and civil rights activist in Memphis, Tennessee. As a journalist, she travelled the South in a crusade against lynching. Wells published the stories she heard in her newspaper, The Memphis Free Speech and Headlight. She […]
U.S. Troops to Leave Afghanistan
This week’s Election Central post describes President Biden’s announcement of a final deadline to remove U.S. military personnel from Afghanistan this year. Soon after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States began a war in Afghanistan. President Biden announced that he wants all American troops to return home by September 11, 2021. For […]
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China Faces Dangerous Dust Storm Last week, strong winds blew dust from the Gobi Desert across much of the northern part of China. This caused what weather experts describe as the worst sandstorm China has seen in ten years. The dust turned the sky visibly yellow. Some schools were shut down, and more than four […]
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The Slow COVID Vaccine Rollout You may have seen photos of people on social media receiving their coronavirus vaccine, often with the hashtag, #ThisIsOurShot. The vaccine is an exciting development in the battle to fight the coronavirus and return life to some kind of “normalcy.” Here in the U.S., the number of new cases–and deaths–is […]