Opinions

As the new semester approaches, one concern for students is purchasing new textbooks. Different individuals swear by certain methods or websites that make buying these textbooks at least slightly more affordable. Despite all the ways one can try and save money on books, the Annual Survey of Colleges published by the College Board last year showed that on average students spend $1,200 on textbooks and supplies every year. That number increases to almost $1,250 for students who attend private colleges. The high cost of textbooks is likely to increase. Economics...

Since the disastrous launch of Healthcare.gov, the website designed to enroll Americans in insurance programs under the Affordable Care Act, the White House has been struggling to reassure the public that the ACA (commonly called Obamacare) is still going to work. The political climate surrounding the ACA has grown heated: the New York Times reported on Thursday that a memo had circulated amongst House Republicans, advising them to keep pushing stories of how the botched health care rollout has harmed their constituents. It seems that the battle over health care...

If you’re looking for a fail-proof way to reinvigorate your romantic social life without stepping away from the comfort of your computer screen, there is (yet another) app for that. Joining the ranks of existing Facebook dating apps like Tinder and LuLu, a new Facebook app was made available to the public on Nov. 1. The app, SetMeUp, “redefines the meaning of DTF—Dating Through Friends” as its UWIRE press release raves. The premise of SetMeUp, and what distinguishes it from the 1000+ other online dating sites, is that mutual friends...

Military Benefits for Same-Sex Couples One of the many returns for serving in the United States military is the ability to share certain benefits with a spouse. These spousal benefits include everything from all-access passes to recreational facilities and exclusive base camp shopping to health care and housing allowances. The problem, however, is that six states (Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia) are currently refusing to give these benefits to same-sex couples. These benefits, which also include childcare, legal aid, financial aid, and medical care, can be obtained...

Execution as a means of punishment for a crime has been a part of this country’s history since colonial times. While settlers brought with them the tradition of capital punishment from Britain, the U.S. still holds onto this practice despite the abolition of the practice throughout the European Union (EU). Because the Council of Europe (COE) made the abolition of the death penalty a requirement for countries to be admitted into the EU, there has not been a single execution in the Union since 1997. On the COE’s website, they...

In an unprecedented turn of events, and for the first time in Seattle’s history, the city elected a Socialist candidate to City Council. Even for a city characterized by its liberal politics, this represents a sea change: according to city archivist Scott Cline, no Socialist has been elected to office in the last century. The candidate, Kshama Sawant, campaigned on a number of highly left-wing issues. One of her campaign goals was to enact legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Washington’s minimum wage currently stands at...

In a recent interview with the BBC, British comedian Russell Brand lambasted the state of Western democracy. When interviewer Jeremy Paxman criticized Brand for his decision not to vote in elections, Brand said, “It’s not that I’m not voting out of apathy. I’m not voting out of absolute indifference and weariness and exhaustion from the lies, treachery, deceit of the political class that has been going on for generations now and which has now reached fever pitch where you have a disenfranchised, disillusioned, despondent underclass that are not being represented...

New York City is contributing to the nationwide discourse on tobacco age restrictions in a big way. A bill proposing to raise the legal sale of tobacco to those 21 years and older is currently waiting for a signature on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s desk. Alhough New York is not the first city to implement the new age restriction, New York’s legislation has always had a high amount of influence over similar legislation in other cities and states, perhaps because of the city’s cosmopolitan relevance to popular culture. This debate made...

Healthcare is supposed to improve the populace’s general well-being, but one area of healthcare coverage is consistently ignored in current debate: mental illnesses. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 26 percent of the population, or about one in four adults, currently meets the criteria for a diagnosable mental illness; one in 17 adults, or six percent, suffer from severely debilitating disorders. Mental illnesses are far more common than you might think—and yet despite making up such a sizable percentage of medical diagnoses each year, they receive abysmal...

  Gun violence in this country has become a growing concern in recent years. There is a growing sense of anxiety about events involving guns, and this has recently combined with the country’s post-9/11 anxieties. On Friday, Nov. 1, a shooting took place at the Los Angeles International Airport. The gunman, who is suspected to be 23-year-old Paul Ciancia, opened fire at approximately 9 a.m. in Terminal 3. He was carrying an assault rifle, which he used to kill 39-year-old Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer Gerardo I. Hernandez, who was...

Dear Writer of the Satirical Works Section,   I would like to respectfully write a few comments about your article “Tacoma Moon Festival honors the bare beauty of butts” that was published on The Trail’s website on September 24, 2013. First and foremost, I would like to write that I understand that this portion of The Trail is for joking and laughs. Also, I have noted that there is a disclaimer. As a Perspectives Leader that has gone through Puget Sound’s Diversity Summit, this article came as a shock. Even...