America's Death Penalty and Moving Forward

On the first day of April, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the execution of a Missouri death row inmate would not be unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment’s bar on cruel and unusual punishment, despite a rare medical condition that could cause him severe pain. Two weeks earlier, the governor of California had announced the imposition of an executive moratorium on the state’s death penalty. Both developments are significant because of their potential ramifications on the

Saudi Arabia: Inaction is Not An Option

On Oct. 3rd, the Washington Post reported Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. A Saudi Arabian journalist and columnist for the Post, Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul the previous day. Despite the cover stories disseminated by Saudi officials— including the evolving, mutually exclusive, and altogether ridiculous claims that he left the consulate alive, that he instigated a fist fight with numerous armed Saudi guards, and that he was killed by a rogue operation— the tr

John McCain's (Deeply) Political Legacy

On Aug. 25, a little more than two weeks ago, Senator John McCain passed away at the age of 81, succumbing to a devastating form of brain cancer. What followed on social media and in newspaper columns across the country was an overwhelming, albeit predictable, barrage of reactions to a life that, if nothing else, shaped modern American politics like few others. The vast majority of the reactions I came across lauded McCain’s life as the epitome of service, courage and decency. Voiced by Democra