Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in The Swamp.
Most Powerful Female Political Leaders Right Now
From Angela Merkel to Ivanka Trump, these women hold more political power than you can imagine. Named as Forbes' Most Powerful Women of 2017, each of these women have claimed their rightful spot for being some of the top game-changers of the world, on top of being successful, powerful, and intelligent.
By April Demarco8 years ago in The Swamp
Crisis Point
Thinking back to the financial crisis of 2008, one would think that another such economic catastrophe would somehow elude us. It was just ten years ago that the United States plunged the world into the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. Yet here we are, a decade later, no wiser and even more foolish. You would have thought that we would have learned from our mistakes, but time and time again, history proves that we are still prone to repeat mistakes of the past. When will we ever learn? Today, what we have is déjà vu of the 2008 financial crisis. So what we have now are almost the same set of circumstances that are poised to unleash an economic debacle more sinister and more devastating than the one in 2008. To understand how this is happening, we first have to look at what transpired leading up to the 2008 crash.
By Dr. Williams8 years ago in The Swamp
Oakland Obstruction? Did Mayor Libby Schaaf Violate the Alien Harboring Act?
A recent tweet on twitter after Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warned her Sanctuary City of upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) law enforcement action read: By alerting law breakers, any 'death by illegal' or even injury by same in @Oakland is on your Mayor. Best lawyer up, I would think. #ICE #Obstruction.
By Lourdes Josephina Vitas8 years ago in The Swamp
Ocean Pollution
Tons of plastic and other debris that are carelessly dumped into our oceans are swirling in currents, breaking into smaller components and never going away. The world's oceans are covered in trash that either degrades and sinks to the bottom or drifts onto our shores. Marine debris has a massive impact on not only wildlife, but humans as well. Sea turtles, seals, sea lions, seagulls, whales, and dolphins are only five of the marine animals dying from our plastic trash. These creatures depend on us—why are we being so shellfish?
By Sam Villemaire8 years ago in The Swamp
The Best Film Nobody Is Talking About
On March 14, 2014 the film Cesar Chavez was released into theaters. It told the story of the legendary farm-worker and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez during the 1960s and 1970s. On paper it seemed like a film critics would praise and audiences, particularly Latino audiences, would embrace. It had a great cast that featured Michael Pena as Chavez, America Ferrera as his wife Helen Chavez and Rosario Dawson as civil rights leader Dolores Huerta. It was a film co-produced by Participant Media, a production company with the mission statement of producing films with a story that revolves around social and civic change. Despite all of this, it was a film that came and went with almost no real buzz surrounding it, and no significant word of mouth to propel it. The film was panned by critics and made very little noise at the box office. I must admit, as excited I was to see that a film like this was being made, it took about two weeks after its initial release for me to actually see the film. When I saw it, I was disappointed. I was still happy that the story of arguably the most important civil rights leader in Latino-American history was made into a feature length film, but more importantly, I was saddened to see that the film itself didn’t live up to the standards that it should have. It was also disappointing to see a film like this not reach any kind of critical or fan success, because had it been successful it would have opened the door to so many other stories like it. People so easily forget that Latinos, specifically Mexican-Americans have been living in the United States for centuries. We didn’t start to suddenly immigrate here over the last twenty years, and we definitely are not guilty of doing the things that Fox News and the Trump regime accuse us of doing. I say all of this because the stories of our people and of our cultures are very deep and complex. Had the film Cesar Chavez become a success, it would have been a precedent to produce future films like it, but it wasn’t, and I along with many other Latino film fans had to wonder where our next story would come from.
By Carlos Navarrette8 years ago in The Swamp
Confederate Flags, Kneeling, and the USA: Part 2
One of the examples I can give is the Zoot Suit Riots in 1943. In the 1930s the US deported between 500,000 and two million people, including up to 1.2 million legal people of Mexican descent (illegally, I might add) so that they could ease the strain on the economy at the time. Many Latinos and Mexicans resided in historic areas. More recent immigrants joined them as they were segregated to part of the town which was the worst from housing to financially. In L.A., the newspapers ran articles using derogatory terms to describe the Hispanic and Latino communities, and urged that the teens were rampant troublemakers. Sound Familiar? This caused severe discord between the Caucasians and the minorities such as Mexicans and Latinos.
By James Howell8 years ago in The Swamp
What's Wrong With the Boys?
I remember evenings as a young boy, my Dad would come home from work. My little brother and I already busy bothering my Mom and antagonizing each other. My Dad would come down to the basement and we’d rough-house, we’d slap-box and and toss footballs and do push-up competitions and race down the hallway. I can still hear my Mom shouting things from the kitchen like, “It’s all fun until someone gets hurt!” My Dad would calm us down and after dinner he’d come back downstairs with us. He’d tell us goodnight and we would just talk. We’d talk about our day, and we’d talk about whatever we were going through; our fears, our triumphs. Our failures and our adventures. It was a moment in the day that was meaningful for all three of us, and in looking back, it was those moments that taught me that it was okay to be vulnerable, and it was okay to talk about how I felt.
By Patrick O'Neill8 years ago in The Swamp
An Open Letter to the Picket Passerby
You are going about your day, taking the roads you normally take to get to the place you normally need to go and the job you need to work. Some of you are alone in your cars. Some of you have family members, friends, and children. If you’re anything like me, your commute is probably a blur. The scenery is always the same, the same buildings, the same scenery, and the same roadwork. But this past weekend, it’s been different. There are lines of people, groups of them, outside of regular buildings and outside the schools with signs and different noise makers. And you have a choice on how you respond.
By Courtney Lynn8 years ago in The Swamp
TV Review: Hulu's 'The Looming Tower'
The Looming Tower is a terrific bit of potboiler television. That it also happens to hue very closely to the historic record prior to and immediately after September 11th makes it all the more compelling. Based on Lawrence Wright’s incredible 2006 bestseller, Hulu’s The Looming Tower is a remarkable achievement that is occasionally slowed by TV conventions but is nevertheless endlessly compelling.
By Sean Patrick8 years ago in The Swamp
