Pure mathematics, more than any other discipline, is viewed as purely abstract thought, as far removed from our tangible world as possible. It emphasizes rigor, structure and order. This marriage of traits made it the perfect brainchild for one of the biggest communist regimes in history, the Soviet Union. While they may have failed in […]
If You Want to Do Good, Become a Prosecutor
America’s criminal justice system is broken. Mass incarceration and systemic racism define our courts and laws. The United States holds the largest incarcerated population in the world, and an ever-growing share is being funneled into for-profit prisons. Minorities are incarcerated at highly disproportionate rates, often for minor offenses. While the most wealthy and powerful, like […]
Life for Life: the Rhetoric of Political Vengeance in Dobbs V. Jackson
Vengeance: the blood you shed must be compensated with your own blood, or that of those you hold most dear. Traditionally, deaths were avenged in war to honor the fallen and punish their slayer. In the modern day, where polarization exists to such a degree that the neologism of “political warfare” turns debate into a […]
From Red Lines to Class Lines
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) under his New Deal. The intention was to provide homeowners mortgage relief to prevent foreclosure, expanding opportunities to purchase homes. However, in practice, the HOLC and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) would work together to segregate cities across America, devastating urban communities to […]
WashU Under Trump’s Thumb
In August 2025, the Department of Homeland Security wrapped a seismic shift in bureaucratic language, redefining international students not as scholars but as potential threats. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declared that such students had been “remaining virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging U.S. citizens.” The agency vowed to “end that abuse […]
Gerrymandering Arms Race: No Winners
On Friday, September 12, President Trump praised Missouri State Republicans via Truth Social for sending “A new, much fairer, and much improved, Congressional Map” to Gov. Mike Kehoe. Exactly two weeks earlier, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared in a video that he was signing the “One Big Beautiful Map” into law to make Texas “more […]
We’ve Been Here Before
The shocking assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk on September 10 during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University continues to send shockwaves throughout the United States, and is shaping up to be one of the most culturally significant acts of political violence in modern American history. Regardless of whether one agrees with Kirk’s […]
Ambush, then Retreat
“We’re all going to die,” said Iowa senator Joni Ernst in a town hall meeting, vehemently defending Medicaid cuts made in the ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ After backlash ensued, Ernst followed the statement up with a video set in a graveyard stating, “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we […]
Quantifying Fear: The Manipulation of Political Statistics
Following brutal conflicts of the 17th Century, European rulers began governing based on demographic trends, enabled by the birth of modern statistics. As The Guardian aptly captures its importance, “Statistics would do for populations what cartography did for territory.” Over three centuries later, their role in our institutions remains crucial. They are used to describe […]
When Words Kill: The Rise in Political Violence
On September 10th, 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot fatally during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Tyler Robinson, the suspected shooter, was arrested two days later. Just three months prior, on June 14, 2025, Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated in a shooting at her home alongside her husband. […]