New study argues that migrating from cities, not travel bans, slows spread of disease

Of course, it's all about where you move. The authors argue that it needs to be less populous regions.

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  • Moving from densely-populated urban regions is more effective in stopping the spreading of disease than closing borders.
  • Two researchers from Spain and Italy ran 10,000 simulations to discover that travel bans are ultimately ineffective.
  • Smaller cities might suffer high rates of infection, but the nation overall could benefit from this model.
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How Benjamin Franklin tried—and failed—to form a union

It was a concept borrowed from the Iroquois, and one that America never quite mastered.

  • Most people know the basics of American history and may even be able to name all 13 colonies, but where exactly did the idea to form a union come from?
  • Political writer and essayist Richard Kreitner explains how Benjamin Franklin learned the concept from the Iroquois Confederation. When he tried to introduce it to the colonists, however, they "thought it was essentially equivalent to tyranny."
  • The idea eventually caught on, but not without land disputes and issues of representation, which explains why the US House of Representatives has 435 voting seats while the Senate has just two seats per state, equal for all states regardless of population size—it was a compromise. Kreitner argues that this imbalance may one day rupture the US political system.
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Why the US must break the grip of huge monopolies

Monopolies wield an immense amount of economic and political power and influence. So what can we do to make the economy more equitable?

  • According to Vanderbilt law professor and author Ganesh Sitaraman, America has a monopoly problem—a problem that is almost universally acknowledged as such, yet little is done about it.
  • Sitaraman explains how monopolies of today share DNA with trusts of the 19th century, and how the increased concentration and consolidation of these corporations translates to increased power both economically and politically.
  • "We need to think about reinvigorating our anti-trust laws and the principles of anti-monopoly that gave spirit to those laws and to lots of other regulations," he argues. Restoring faith in government and the economy starts with dismantling the things that make people question its allegiances and priorities.
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New study shows which states make it easier (or harder) to vote

States set their own voting laws, so where does this make voting easiest?

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  • A new report out of Northern Illinois University lists how easy it is to vote in each state.
  • The report can be compared to previous indexes, showing where it is getting easier and more difficult to vote.
  • The authors also note that dramatically improving the ease of voting is simple and cost effective.
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Should facial recognition software be banned on college campuses?

A heated debate is occurring at the University of Miami.

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  • Students say they were identified with facial recognition technology after a protest at the University of Miami; campus police claim this isn't true.
  • Over 60 universities nationwide have banned facial recognition; a few colleges, such as USC, regularly use it.
  • Civil rights groups in Miami have called for the University of Miami to have talks on this topic.

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