Jake Laperruque The Huffington Post has a history of causing controversy by maneuvering to acquire free labor. Now, the news website is again raising eyebrows, this time for its use of a new type of employee to keep its blogs updated: Unpaid children. The issue brought forth by this policy is whether blogging constitutes labor (which in this case would be unpaid child labor). On the one hand, the vast majorities of bloggers write on their own time, without receiving any form of compensation …
Invoking Foreign Precedent: A Dead End for Marriage Equality?
Peter Dunne Over last the last week, there has been considerable discussion about the movement for marriage equality. An interesting, but rarely addressed question is the role that foreign precedent might play should any of the current live actions make it to the Supreme Court. Lawrence v Texas is obviously one of the most important federal court decisions for the LGBT movement. In his majority opinion, Justice Kennedy struck down Texas’ same-sex sodomy law as violating both the Due Process …
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New State Laws Threaten Voting Rights
Billy Corriher There’s been a lot of discussion recently about a perceived assault on voting rights. There have been media reports on a campaign by Republicans and their supporters to enact stricter voting laws. Many states have implemented shorter early voting periods, stricter rules for absentee ballots, and tougher registration requirements. Twenty states have considered new voter ID requirements, and others have strengthened existing ID rules. Why are state legislatures suddenly so …
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Troy Davis is dead
Frank Housh Georgia authorities executed Troy Davis by lethal injection Wednesday night. He was declared dead at 11:08 EDT. …
Life after Troy
Jessica Jackson Last night the world sat silently holding its breath as it once again waited to hear whether Georgia would be allowed to kill Troy Anthony Davis. Troy’s case, unlike most death row inmates, received international attention, extensive media coverage, and celebrity awareness. In fact, the hashtags #TroyDavis and #TooMuchDoubt were tweeted by over fifty thousand people in the days leading up to Troy’s execution. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a stay on Troy’s …
Are Social Media Good for Democracy?
Jonathan Peters The more students use social media, the more they support free expression, according to a report released last week. Policy researcher Kenneth Dautrich surveyed 12,090 high school students and 900 teachers about free expression, from April to June. His findings, published Friday in a Knight Foundation report, were many and varied—and contextualized, because the survey was the fourth in a series that began in 2004. …
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