scholarly journals Anthrax: Real Threat or Useful Scare Tactic?

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah N O'Donohue
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Biological Warfare ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Nuclear Missiles ◽  
Low Incidence ◽  
Tactic Research

In the years following the attacks of September 11, both the United States Government and the general public have become increasingly aware of the threat of terrorism and its many forms. Not only do we fear "weapons of mass destruction" such as nuclear missiles, but also microscopic spores such as anthrax which has opened up a whole new world of "bioterrorism." On June 12, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act in response to the "Amerithrax" attacks in late 2001. However, the risk of biological warfare use is not well understood, and bioterrorism is a threat without precedent. The extremely low incidence of real biological events in the early 21st century contrasts with the outburst of political rhetoric and mass-media coverage surrounding the subject. Thus, the question arises whether bioterrorism is a real threat or merely a useful scare tactic. Research shows that anthrax is both a real threat—on account of its contagiousness, durable spore structure, complex lethal toxin, and demonstrated use as a weapon of biological warfare—and a useful scare tactic as the bacterium has become a public obsession and the subject of countless hoaxes. America and its allies must confront the reality of bioterrorism by organizing defenses for possible attacks and by further investigating the nature and properties of anthrax and other pathogenic agents—after all, knowing your enemy is the best strategy in any type of warfare.

U.S. Immigration Policy in the Early 21st Century

2012 ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
G. Nikol'skaya
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
American History ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
President Obama ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
New Immigrants ◽  
Significant Movement ◽  
The Subject

U.S. immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached 40 millions in 2010, the highest number in American history. Nearly 14 millions of new immigrants settled in the country from 2000 to 2010, making it the highest decade of immigration in American history. For the United States, the immigration has always been both crucial to the economic growth and a source of serious conflicts. There has been no significant movement toward federal immigration reform since bipartisan project blocked in 2007. But it has been the subject of fever legislation at a state level, and President Obama made a decision to return to this question in the coming presidential campaign.

“Lying about a Lie”: Racial Passing in US History, Literature and Popular Culture

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
SINÉAD MOYNIHAN
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Native American ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
New York Times ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Racial Passing ◽  
New Yorker ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Meaningful Relationships

In June 2015, the parents of Rachel Dolezal, president of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the NAACP, claimed that their daughter was passing as black. While she professed to be of mixed (white, African American) racial heritage, her parents asserted that she was of white European descent, with some remote Native American ancestry. The revelations precipitated Dolezal's resignation from her role at the NAACP and a flurry of articles about the story that were disseminated around the world on Twitter under the “Rachel Dolezal” hashtag. Much of the media coverage attempted to account for the fact that this story should elicit such impassioned reactions given that race has long been acknowledged as a performance. As Jelani Cobb wrote in the New Yorker, Dolezal had dressed herself in “a fictive garb of race whose determinations are as arbitrary as they are damaging.” This does not mean that Dolezal “wasn't lying about who she is.” It means that “she was lying about a lie.” Meanwhile, in the New York Times, Daniel J. Sharfstein pointed out that the kind of passing we saw in Dolezal's case – passing from white to black; so-called “reverse passing” – was not as historically uncommon as other writers had claimed. What is unusual is that Dolezal should feel the need to pass as black when there were no legal (and comparatively few social) obstacles to her forming “meaningful relationships with African-Americans, study[ing], teach[ing] and celebrat[ing] black history and culture and fight[ing] discrimination.” For Sharfstein, the explanation lies in the fact that “when blackness means something very specific – asserting that black lives matter – it follows for many people that categorical clarity has to matter, too.” The pervasive media and public interest in the Dolezal story confirms the ongoing fascination with racial passing within and beyond the United States, a popular interest that has its counterpart in the proliferation of academic studies of the subject that have been published in the past twenty years. The scholarly attention paid to racial passing inaugurated, arguably, by Elaine K. Ginsberg in her edited volume Passing and the Fictions of Identity (1996) continues unabated in two recent works on the subject. Julie Cary Nerad's edited volume Passing Interest is concerned with cultural representations of passing, while Allyson Hobbs's A Chosen Exile grapples with its history.

A Review of the Literature on the Antitrust Laws of the United States

1978 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25
Author(s):  
Terry Calvani
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Price Discrimination ◽  
Federal Trade Commission ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Antitrust Laws ◽  
States Government ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Restraint Of Trade

The attempt by the United States government to preserve competition and its benefits has produced a succession of legislation, popularly known as the antitrust laws, which began with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. This law prohibits combinations in restraint of trade and monopolization of trade. The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 established a federal agency to enforce antitrust and outlawed “unfair” competition. The Clayton Act, passed in the same year and amended by the Robinson–Patman Act in 1936, forbids price discrimination, mergers, and other actions when judged destructive of competition.These statutes have generated an enormous quantity of litigation and have stimulated a plethora of literature. The following article, written by an expert who teaches and writes in the. field of antitrust, describes the more important works on the subject which, taken together, could constitute a basic collection of antitrust literature for law libraries inside and outside the United Slates.

scholarly journals El Salvador’s FMLN and the Constraints on Leftist Government

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Young
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Progressive Reforms ◽  
Private Investors ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time

The 1992 Salvadoran peace accords ended a 12-year civil war and forced modest democratic reforms on a state long dominated by a ruthless oligarchy and military. However, the new system represented a shallow version of democracy that remained largely unresponsive to the population. For two decades the far-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Nationalist Republican Alliance [ARENA]) party held the presidency and used it to enact pro-business economic policies of austerity, privatization, and deregulation. In 2009, the left-wing opposition party, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), won the presidential elections for the first time. Yet despite winning some notable progressive reforms, the FMLN did not seek, much less achieve, a radical break from the neoliberal policies of previous administrations. FMLN leaders opted to continue a number of pro-capitalist policies while pursuing reforms to ameliorate the worst symptoms of the system, not overthrow it. The FMLN’s shift away from revolutionary socialism is attributable to several factors: a political and media terrain that still heavily favors the right, the continued influence of the United States government, and private investors’ control over the economy. These constraints were vitally important during the tenures of FMLN presidents Mauricio Funes (2009–2014) and Salvador Sánchez Cerén (2014–2019). El Salvador’s political trajectory since 1992, and especially during the FMLN’s decade in the presidency, offers insights into the constraints facing various left-of-center governments elected across Latin America in the early 21st century.

Climate Change Communication in Spain

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Carmen Erviti ◽  
Bienvenido León
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Population ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
The Media

It is not easy to determine the precise moment when climate change became a public communication issue in Spain. Among early references, the national newspaper El País published a story titled “World climate is going to change,” on November 17, 1976, and the term “global warming,” imported from the United States, appeared frequently in the media, from 1988 onward. However, academic research about communication of this important issue is relatively recent. A seminar held in 2005 warned that there were “no specific studies on the way the Spanish citizenry is facing the climate change threat” (II Seminario de Comunicación, Educación y Participación frente al Cambio Climático, Lekaroz, Navarra). This seminar precipitated the first study on public perception of climate change in Spain. According to more recent research, 90.1% of Spanish citizens are aware that climate change is happening, whereas only 4.6% are not. Historical records indicate that awareness has grown consistently in the early 21st century, with awareness levels that are similar to those of other countries. However, although there exists a strong consensus within the scientific community on the existence and the anthropogenic origin of climate change, polls indicate that only a small part of the Spanish population (39.0%) is aware of this agreement; a figure that is similar to that of other countries, such as the United States. In addition, two thirds of the Spanish population (64.4%) believe that climate change is mainly a consequence of human activities; a higher percentage than in other countries, like the United States. This ambivalent picture is not surprising, considering climate change is a marginal topic for mainstream Spanish media. According to a study conducted in 2005 and 2011, only 0.2% of all stories in the main national newspapers and 0.19% of national TV news focused on climate change, a lower percentage than in other countries. Media coverage of this issue has fluctuated since the 1990s, depending on several factors, like the existence of links to current affairs (such as international climate summits), notable report publications (from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), and public engagement efforts (such as the Al Gore film An Inconvenient Truth). As far as the quality of the coverage is concerned, research shows similar trends to those detected internationally, including politicization, superficiality, and catastrophism. However, compared to other countries, there is a lower representation of skeptic viewpoints in the Spanish media that may be related to a weaker public visibility of skeptic think tanks and personalities. Academic interest in climate change communication has risen since 2010. Only four publications (books or articles) were released from 2001 to 2005, whereas more than 30 appeared in the period 2011–2015. Research has primarily focused on public perception and media coverage of climate change and has been conducted mainly by four universities (Universidad Complutense, Universidad de Málaga, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, and Universidad de Navarra). Communication actions related to climate change have been carried out by several nongovernmental organizations, often as part of international events and campaigns. In the early 21st century, national and regional public institutions have conducted several campaigns to communicate and raise climate change awareness, producing several exhibitions and publications, mainly on climate change mitigation. Several forums have suggested that the current weaknesses could benefit from a closer relationship among the media and scientific institutions. This could contribute to provide more credible information on the reality of climate change, as well as the options for mitigation and adaptation. Future research could also address climate change coverage in online media and social networks, as well as reception studies, currently underrepresented in academic studies conducted in the country.

Legal Issues in the Nicaragua Opinion

1987 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-166
Author(s):  
Fred L. Morrison
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
United States Government ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
States Government ◽  
The Subject

The opinion of the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua case will be of interest primarily because of its general pronouncements on questions of international law. Its impact on the immediate controversy appears slight; the United States Government has strongly indicated its view that the Court lacked jurisdiction over the controversy, has vetoed subsequent proposed Security Council resolutions on the subject, and is appropriating additional funds for the contested activities, without apparent reference to the Court’s decision. This Comment is limited to the general theoretical and legal issues and will not treat the underlying factual issues, the Court’s disposition of the immediate case or the implications of the opinion for the evolution of the dispute.

scholarly journals Illegality and Healthcare: A Federalist Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis J. Wieboldt ◽  
Laura E. Perrault
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Health Security ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Federal Laws ◽  
Access To Primary Care

With the contemporary rise of mass media, the historically disadvantaged status of the United States’ immigrant and undocumented populations has become increasingly well-known. Perhaps as a result thereof, both major political parties have utilized the United States’ dynamic immigration system as a scepter of justice in the nation’s ethical and political discourse. Despite the polarization that inter-party immigration controversies frequently beget, discussion of the mutually-reinforcing relationship between statutory immigration and healthcare subsidy exclusions is far more meager and thus the subject of our inquiry. Remaining cognizant of the imbricated relationship between the federal government and its state counterparts within the United States’ federalist system, we explore the economic and public health consequences of immigration and healthcare laws which deny many immigrants access to vital social services. As a product of these restrictive state and federal laws, we conclude that many immigrants not only lack meaningful access to primary care, vaccinations, and labor/environmental quality safeguards, but also that the inaccessibility of such social services has detrimental effects on the nation’s aggregate economic health and public health. In response to the deficiencies of the United States’ legal regime vís-a-vís immigration and healthcare, we offer three distinct categories of recommendations, each of which intends to support the economic success and public health security of the greater American populace.

Epilogue

2019 ◽  
pp. 211-216
Author(s):  
Yogita Goyal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The epilogue turns to current surveys of the cultural landscape of slavery, concluding that even as widespread ignorance about the history of the institution continues, many readers express fatigue with the subject of trauma. Considering the scene of the classroom alongside persistent analogies to slavery in media coverage of Central American refugees seeking asylum in the United States in 2018, the epilogue urges a new comparative literacy that allows us to understand convergences with the global present alongside differences from the Atlantic past.

An informational reference on anthrax for first responders

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Daniel Rector, MS
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
First Responders ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Current Information ◽  
States Government ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Subject

Anthrax was widely discussed in the media several years ago during the American Anthrax attacks. Despite a lessened interest in the subject today, anthrax still poses a threat to the United States government and its people. This article looks at publically available data and resources in an effort to combine current information into one easy to ready document. It can be used as an informational reference for first responders when learning about the anthrax threat.

Some Questions of International Law in the European War

1916 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 749-797
Author(s):  
James W. Garner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
General Proposition ◽  
The Press ◽  
States Government ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Special Circumstances

The policy of the United States Government in permitting the exportation of arms, munitions, and other war supplies for the use of belligerents during the present war has been the subject of much discussion in Congress and in the press and has provoked diplomatic remonstrances from the Governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary. As a general proposition, it has been admitted by those who complain of the extensive traffic which has gone on between American manufacturers and certain of the belligerents, that neutral governments are not by the existing rules of international law bound to prevent their nationals from engaging in such traffic; but it has been argued that special circumstances to which the present war has given rise give a “new conception to the aspect of neutrality” and that an abnormal and unprecedented situation has been created which makes the continued furnishing of arms and munitions to the belligerents on one side, when their adversaries are unable to avail themselves of the American markets, a violation of the spirit of strict neutrality.

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