In Context
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Likelihood, Feasibility, and Potential Competition: The Meta-Within Acquisition and The Future of Tech Antitrust
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In 2014, Facebook (now Meta) acquired two burgeoning social media firms, WhatsApp and Instagram, with no FTC or DOJ scrutiny. People celebrated the acquisitions and the lack of regulatory scrutiny. In the years since, the negative externalities from Meta’s monopoly have led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the use of…
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What To Expect When Expecting a Family-Friendly Government
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A moral panic over the sanctity of children has bubbled up to the highest levels of U.S. politics. From schoolboards to state legislatures, conservative leaders and activists are mobilizing against anything they see as imperiling a sufficiently wholesome upbringing. Their efforts aim to criminalize drag shows, forbid teachers from making references to…
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Will Illinois’ New Assault Weapons Ban Reduce Gun Violence?
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Six months after a gunman legally purchased a semiautomatic rifle and killed seven people in Highland Park, a northern Chicago suburb, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act into law, banning the sale and delivery of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and switches. Cook County enacted similar legislation…
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A Greener Belt and Road Initiative? China’s Commitment to Sustainability
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In March 2022, China released a set of opinions to push green infrastructure development in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a trillion-dollar strategy to fund infrastructure projects across 100 countries. Under its “Opinions on Jointly Promoting Green Development of the Belt and Road,” China pledged to develop green capabilities…
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Conflict in Colombia: Fifty Years of FARC and a So-Called Peace
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“Today is the day you die. Our orders are to finish off all of you.” These were the words of a FARC rebel as he viciously killed a youth in a manner too grizzly to print. The killing and mutilation continued for decades. A slow-burning asymmetric war, known simply as…
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How China’s Zero-Covid Policy Evolved and Failed
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In December 2022, China abandoned its draconian Zero-COVID policy (also called Dynamic Zero-COVID Policy), a move that was one of the most dramatic shifts in its coronavirus prevention measures. As the world belatedly welcomes China back, it is important to look back at the series of policy changes from the…
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Illinois Voters Approve a Constitutional Right to Organize
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Illinois voters have spoken: 2022 was the year of the organized worker. Adding to a mountain of evidence that workplace issues are on Americans’ minds, the 2022 general election saw the passage of a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers the right to organize and collectively bargain with their employers over…
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White House Loosens Funding Restrictions on Fentanyl Test Strips to Curb Overdose Epidemic
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The opioid crisis has become a severe problem in the United States, largely due to the high levels of synthetic opioids introduced in the drug market. Fentanyl is a specific synthetic opioid that can be 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. These drugs played a…
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What Happens to Chicago if the Bears Leave for the Suburbs?
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The Chicago Bears are likely leaving Chicago for Arlington Heights. In June of 2021, the Chicago Bears — a founding member-team of the National Football League (NFL) — purchased Arlington International Racecourse for $197.2 million. The final sale is expected to close by early 2023, but the team has already…
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The Inflation Reduction Act’s Big Bet on Electric Vehicles
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Electric vehicle (EV) sales in the United States grew by 85% between 2020 and 2021 – the largest increase to date. To continue this growth and promote additional investment in EV production, Democratic lawmakers passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) in August, the largest piece of climate change…
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Why Our Brains Tune Out Climate Change
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In 2018, Climate Outreach, a leading climate-communications non-profit, released a handbook for scientists working under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on how to effectively communicate climate change to the public. The handbook suggests that good science alone is not enough to motivate people to take action against climate…