Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt: the names of American billionaires who became famous in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. They grew their fortunes through the consolidation of major industries such as oil, steel, and railroads. In the present, billionaires are making their fortune through the consolidation of the media industries. Names such as Bezos, […]
Tag: Trump Administration
Soft Secession: California’s Antidote to Trump
Sending ICE to raid workplaces and schools, separating families, and deporting both undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens. Federalizing the National Guard and deploying it to Los Angeles, using military-style force against protesters. Cutting federal funding and withholding aid during the L.A. fires. These are just some of the federal government’s attacks on California over the […]
Caught in the Crossfire: UC Berkeley and the Federal War on Higher Education
At the crossroads of politics and pedagogy, the Department of Education has become a focal point of national controversy under the Trump Administration. Since 1867, the Department of Education has widely administered and funded state-run education in the United States. Along with this function, it also operates investigations on the grounds of racial preferences, and […]
The Geopolitical Strategies Behind the U.S. Visa Waiver Program
After a nine-hour flight from Buenos Aires to Miami en route to Washington, a delegation of Argentine officials planned to meet with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to sign an agreement adding Argentina to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Noem had already signed a statement of intent to explore Argentina’s membership in the VWP. […]
Policy Over People
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI): the three terms that have become trigger words within an escalating culture war. Across decades, though particularly during the Biden Administration, several government initiatives focusing on the expansion of DEI programs were implemented, aiming to tackle discrimination based on race and gender and increase environmental justice efforts to aid disadvantaged […]
Pentagon Restricts Journalist Access to Unclassified Information
Freedom of the press is enshrined in the very first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Not the second, not the last, but the first. This fundamental right is vital to holding the government accountable and maintaining an informed citizenry, both of which ensure our democratic strength as a nation. However, it is becoming increasingly clear […]
The Case for a “Civil Gideon”
Across cases nationwide, unaccompanied immigrant children walk into courtrooms alone, with no attorney by their side. Without guaranteed access to legal representation in immigration proceedings, they are often left to confront the full force of the American legal system on their own, along with the subsequent life-altering consequences. In these moments, the idea of “due […]
DOGE Doom and Gloom: The Gutting of the CFPB
The past weeks have generated national outrage in response to the mass federal employment cuts pursued by the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). From Raleigh, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C., protestors are standing up to DOGE and DOGE-overseer Elon Musk after mass dismissals of federal workers. The Billionaire CEO has sought to reap the […]
Space Race 2.0: Profits, Power, and the Politics of the Cosmos
Capitalism is out of this world—quite literally. The commercialization of space is propelling us into a second space race, one that is fundamentally different from its Cold War predecessor. Unlike the 20th-century contest between the United States and the Soviet Union, this new race is driven by private enterprise, technological ambition, and the pursuit of […]
The U.S.-China Brain Drain
This publication, the Berkeley Political Review, is situated within the Bay Area, a section of California that is best known for its incredible innovations in the technology field. The ecosystem created in Silicon Valley is unlike any other comparable industry ecosystem in the world and has led to the creation of world-conquering technology companies. Focusing […]