May 3, 2012 This is a decisive year in our nation’s history. Six months from now, we will decide whether President Obama will remain the “leader of the free world” or whether the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, will take over the reins. Voter apathy and a general lethargy in the body politic, though, might sabotage this momentous opportunity.

May 3, 2012 China has been all over the international news headlines recently, both because of its military talks with the U.S. beginning this week and the recent escape of one of its well-known dissidents from house arrest. The fact that the dissident, Chen Guangcheng, then sought protection in the U.

May 3, 2012 Last Friday, the Human Rights Working Group and the Graduate Student Organization sponsored a discussion which focused on the University’s role in drone research and production. These drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, are flown by both the U.

May 3, 2012 A recent amendment passed by the SGA details clearer rules governing the conduct by members of the SGA during elections. Prior to this amendment, SGA members were only advised to maintain appropriate behavior during elections. Unlike candidates vying for a position on SGA, current members did not have concrete guidelines under the Committee on Student Elections (CSE).

A disturbing trend has swept the world’s most northern states. Over the last few months, the international community has taken notice of the deployment and expansion of militaries to a new frontier, the Arctic Circle. Despite naysayers, the militaries of states such as the United States, Russia, Canada and the Scandinavian powers have demonstrated their acknowledgment of global warming by directing their forces in various exercises aimed at understanding and mastering this new battlefield.

On Aug. 28, 2008, the Democratic National Convention had its signature moment. Before a packed football stadium in Denver, CO, Barack Obama accepted his party’s nomination for president in an eloquent address titled “The American Promise.” It was an apt title.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing stiff competition from Socialist Party challenger, François Hollande, for his re-election campaign. The latest polls show that the incumbent Sarkozy is trailing Hollande and the winner will have to be declared during the final elections on May 6.

 This past weekend fraternity and sorority presidents were notified of an ongoing hazing investigation throughout the University. According to Rob Turning, Director of Student Activities and acting Director of Greek Life, these investigations stem from an anonymous email tip.

This Tuesday, the JHU Politik Speaker Series held an event entitled “Earth & Space: Space Expansionism, Geopolitics and Earthkeeping,” which focused on the relation between an expanding human presence in space and global politics. Hopkins professor Daniel Deudney and Lieutenant Colonel Peter Garretson of the U.

The following is an open letter to the Hopkins student body concerning an issue in the upcoming SGA Executive Election. Dear Hopkins Student Body, My name is Steven Presser. I am a junior and the Technical Lead on the JHU-Mobile application, which will soon be officially announced.

This week, the Christian Science Monitor reported that illegal immigration in the United States has hit a net zero for the first time in 50 years. The population of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has fallen from 12 million to around 11 million and new immigrants haven’t been entering the U.

As each passing day draws us closer to the 2012 presidential election, reminders of partisan politics remain at the forefront of the discussion. Take the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, for example. In a recent poll conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post, just over half of surveyed individuals believed that a Supreme Court decision on the Act, which is expected sometime in June, will likely be made with political interests in mind.

Every year, The News-Letter Editorial Board issues endorsements after reviewing the platforms of each candidate running for the SGA Executive Board and interviewing the candidates. Endorsement was ultimately given to the candidates who demonstrated the most potential for success, the most experience in student government and the best record in effecting change.

Reducing trash on the beach

One of Hopkins’s greatest allures is its pristine campus. From re-bricked walkways to multimillion-dollar building renovations, many financial resources have been dedicated to beautifying Homewood.  While prospective students and visiting scholars may be dazzled by Gilman’s new atrium or Mason Hall, ask any undergraduate where the most appealing spot on campus is and chances are she or he will respond with: the Beach.

Hopkins students use Charles Village as a kind of home base to the point where it almost seems like the stores and restaurants lining North Charles and St. Paul are extensions of Homewood. In fact, Hopkins students are actually guests of a wider community when they venture to off-campus locales.

Grief and sorrow accompanied the gray skies of Tohoku last Sunday morning as citizens and dignitaries throughout all of Japan commemorated the one year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami, which devastated the country’s northeast and triggered the most harrowing nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, 26 years ago.

There are several motivations behind seeking an ADHD diagnosis, and it’s often challenging for physicians to tell the difference between real and fake complaints. Is the patient just a hypochondriac? One could legitimately have a genetic disposition and be sure of his ailment, are his complaints real, or is he fabricating the symptoms just to gain access to medication? Since there is currently no definitive method of identification other than clinical diagnosis based on self-reported symptoms and patient history, it’s easy to see why such confusion is widespread.

In the almost endless and cyclical struggle of ups and downs, “not-Romneys” and pizza moguls, the 2012 GOP primary season has come to distinguish itself from the standard operating procedure in modern politics. The Republican base has become so fragmented and volatile that it’s often impossible for even the mainstream pundits to predict the tide of the race.

Students gathered in the Glass Pavilion on Monday to hear Hopkins’s own Professor Daniel Deudney discuss the future of nuclear weapons with Elbridge Colby, a specialist who has worked on security issues with RAND and the Center for Naval Analyses. This was the first event of the semester for the Alexander Hamilton Society, an organization that promotes debate on national issues.

On Tuesday night, John Ashcroft, former United States Attorney General, spoke at the Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS). His speech, which focused primarily on civil liberties and counterterrorism, reflected the Symposium’s 2012 theme, “The Paradox of Progress: Chasing Advancement Amidst Global Crisis.

Google is about to do it again. Whispers abound about yet another revolutionary new technology that will renew how humans interact, work and live. The company that brought us the Google search engine, Gmail, Google Earth and myriad other products — from Android phones to scanning and archiving ancient books — is set to introduce a reality-shattering new technology.

In 2008, the Federal Reserve decided to bail out multiple financial firms through the $700 billion program known as TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). TARP was met with an understandably high amount of criticism and opposition. Many felt that it was a gift to the banks that had recklessly caused the financial crisis, and that it would cause “moral hazard” within the financial industry, since banks would believe that the government would always bail them out.

America is founded on the notion “that all men are created equal,” and that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” The founders added to the Constitution the Bill of Rights for the sole purpose of defending these rights from an encroaching federal government.

Growing up, you may have been told to hear people out when they express an opinion, if for no other reason than to show respect. There is, however, a much more significant reason to hear people out, and I believe it is crucial to overcoming a misinformation gap that is plaguing the American public.

In 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States made a fateful decision with countless ramnifications. In the lawsuit between Citizens United and the Federal Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court declared Citizens United victorious and effectively allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money towards political contributions.

If you’ve tuned into any major news outlet in recent weeks, you might come away with the impression that abortion – rather than the U.S. economy – is the issue upon which Election 2012 hinges. Lightning rod or no, the media circuit has been mostly abuzz with “abortion talk,” from the Komen Foundation’s Planned Parenthood imbroglio and the GOP’s all-male “birth control panel,” to Rick Santorum’s fire-and-brimstone commentary on prenatal testing, birth control, and the prosecution of “abortion doctors.

In last week’s issue, The News-Letter ran an article, titled “Univ. declines to support wind energy bill,” detailing Hopkins students’ efforts to get President Daniels to sign a letter to Baltimore City Senator Catherine Pugh in support of the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2012.

The campaign for marriage equality in Maryland won an important victory on Tuesday when a joint panel of the Maryland legislature approved a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. Governor O’Malley’s bill, if passed in the full House and Senate, will make Maryland the eighth state to legalize gay marriage.

Last month, four Hopkins students were awarded $5,000 in grant money to launch the Baltimore MicroFarming Project. Reflecting a growing national interest in community-based agriculture, the MicroFarming Project is aimed at providing opportunities for refugees living in Baltimore.

Representatives of the LaRouche Political Action Committee paid a visit to Homewood on Tuesday, setting up camp at the corner of North Charles Street and East 34th in a well-traveled spot in front of Charles Market. Though physically unobtrusive—their exhibit consisted of a table littered with one to two dozen packets of hand-outs—it can only be said to be politically provocative, decorated with their defining Obama-Hitler Mustache poster and a number of others on subjects ranging from impending nuclear holocaust to the necessity of presidential impeachment in order to save the global economy.

The Iran issue appears destined to take a particularly troubling route. After President Obama and EU policymakers labeled their negotiations “unyielding,” the international community, backed by the UN, adopted a series of harsh sanctions aimed at dilapidating the Islamic Republic.

Consider this for the plot setup of a Hollywood thriller: Leading virologists genetically engineer and mutate a Biosafety-Level 3 virus, rendering it dangerous enough to rapidly infect and prove the mortality of a fraction of the world’s population. Perhaps you’re saying you’ve heard this one before, but I’m not referring to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later nor Stephen King’s The Stand; I’m referring to a clear and present threat affecting all of us today.

This week, the Coalition of Hopkins Activists for Israel (CHAI) hosted the annual Israel Peace Week (IPW). A grassroots campaign that focuses on educating students about Israel’s steps toward peace with the Palestinians, IPW attempts to respond to anti-Israel propaganda.

Sure, the bitter, protracted contest between Mitt Romney and Co. is technically still an open-ended question. But it doesn't take a number-crunching analyst to tell you that for underdogs Gingrich, Santorum and Paul, it's already settled. Even now, strategists on both sides of the aisle are busy prepping the ring for what's looking to be the final face-off between Mitt Romney — the GOP's de facto nominee — and President Barack Obama.

F rom Feb. 27 to Mar. 9, the Coalition of Hopkins Activists for Israel hosted the Israel Peace Week Initiative. The Israel Peace Week Initiative is a proactive, engaging campaign, which aims to educate campus populations about Israel's efforts and desires for peace, despite its lack of adequate peace partners in the region.

Whether in the form of Gatorade to replenish electrolytes after a hard workout, 5-hour Energy to get through a long day of classes or Pepsi to get a short-lived energy boost at work, we've all experienced the benefits of drinks with high sugar content.

Recently, the Arab Spring and Senator Rick Santorum have led to the resurgence of healthy discussions about democracy and its expansion. Spreading democracy, either directly or indirectly, has been the United States' proud goal for almost a century, and many of its European allies have joined this seemingly noble cause.

Seniors look forward to graduation for one of two reasons. Either because it symbolizes the end of college, and even the end of school for some, or because of the ceremony itself. Corny at worst, graduations can actually be significant and memorable at best.

As a student, my mind is always on the future. We're an ambitious group of youth at Hopkins, and personally. I don't know a single one of us who isn't excited for the possibilities of what's to come. That's why Governor O'Malley's Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2012 is our best opportunity to ensure that there will be more opportunities in the future.

People around the world that live in the midst of oppressive regimes have only a few options when it comes to gaining freedom. Often they organize protests against the government and wait for a response. The knee jerk reaction of these regimes is to violently suppress protesters, and this violence captures the attention of the world, more specifically the United Nations.

On February 7, the Johns Hopkins University Muslim Association (JHUMA) hosted its annual Muslim Mosaic, which presents the various regional and cultural diversities of Islam. The event showcased cultural delicacies, clothing and music from around the Muslim world and attempted to expose Hopkins students to the heterogeneity of a little-understood — yet global — religion.

In the past year, a shocking number of undemocratic regimes have been met with adamant citizens demanding more freedom. For a while, members of the Kremlin were proud that Russia was an exception. This pride, however, may have gone a little too far. A few months ago, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that he and President Dmitry Medvedev would nonchalantly ‘swap' roles, thrusting Putin into a leadership position for potentially the next 12 years.

On Friday evening a University of Baltimore student was hit by an MTA bus. The incident temporarily closed traffic around the intersection at St. Paul and 33rd.   Hillary Walsh, the victim, was taken to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she currently remains in the intensive-care unit, although a support website set up by her family indicates that she is recovering.

Last week, President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech, and at first blush, it seemed like a delight to hear. America's economy is on the rise, and the wars overseas are finally ending. Although it is true that Bin Laden is dead, the U.S.

As the spring semester at Hopkins begins, students experience a mix of excitement and dread — and rightfully so. This new semester surely brings new professors, new classes and definitely new challenges (especially for those freshman losing the comfort of covered grades).

This election, the Grand Old Party might not boast an all-star roster, but it's got a game-changer in its midst. Of the candidates left standing, one is a disgraced, former Speaker of the House, another is too quasi-evangelical for comfort, and frontrunner Romney — the old guard's "golden boy" — is a $250 million cocktail of straight-laced smarm.

There is some value to using CPS clickers in large lectures. By quizzing the class after the introduction of challenging topics, professors can quickly assess whether the majority of people are following the day's lecture and keeping up with the material.

Some professors at Hopkins have banned computers in their classrooms on the grounds that they distract students and reduce their engagement in class discussion. During these first few days of class I have run up against myriad laptop policies in my various courses.