As Russian troops crossed into Ukraine to fight an unprovoked war, former United States President Donald Trump and other major political actors on the right, like former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, were openly praising Russian President Vladimir Putin for the tactics used in his invasion of Ukraine, an independent country. As Ukraine’s democratic rights and freedom are under attack, it is important to look inward at our own democracy in America. America has seen its democracy go under assault in the last six years, from Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to bogus claims of election fraud after Trump's 2020 election loss and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to the wave of voter suppression laws being written in state legislatures all over the country.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the court case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis on Feb. 22, which is similar to the 2018 case Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Both cases host homophobic Christians trying to get the government to let them refuse service to gay couples.  Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, is a web designer who wants to expand her business into wedding sites, but she wants to decline service to any gay couple that would try to hire her because of her Christian religious beliefs. This violates Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws, so Smith is taking her case to the next level to challenge the law on the basis of the free speech clause in the First Amendment. 

Social media sites used to be, and still are, platforms for sharing media with people you know. We've all heard social media can be toxic, but we use it anyway. We try to make the most out of a problematic app because it is supposedly fun, and our brains are conditioned to it at this point. It is second nature to check social media when there’s a lull in the day. We already know it’s addictive, but what about what we’re actually posting on social media?

If you’ve been on Instagram these last few weeks, you’re likely familiar with Kanye West’s rants about his soon-to-be ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her new man Pete Davidson, who West has nicknamed “Skete.” Sure, on the surface, this is stupid internet drama — it’s really not important in the grand scheme of things. However, there is something to be said about how insane this behavior is on West’s part.

There comes a time in most Americans’ lives when they reach a fork in the road. Following high school graduation, one must often ask themself, “What’s next?” For a lot of people, they have three options lying before them: pursue a college education, learn a trade or jump into work immediately. Of the choices mentioned above, about 42.1% of Americans 18-24 years old choose to go to some college, according to the Education Data Initiative. After all, as children and all through high school, how many of us were told pursuing higher education was pivotal to lifelong success and financial stability?

President Joe Biden's March 1 State of the Union address — his first in office — will be remembered as an impassioned speech that started off by condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for attacking Ukraine while calling for common sense progress here in the United States.  This address came during a time of extreme international turmoil; Biden and the rest of the world came together in an act of solidarity to punish Putin and his enablers for their invasion of Ukraine.

On Feb. 24, the Russian militarily initiated an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Orders for this invasion were delivered by longtime Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin, an autocratic leader who’s known for ruling with an iron fist, is no stranger to orchestrating unprovoked attacks on neighboring territories. In fact, the Russian military has conducted a number of similar operations in recent years. Such operations include the country’s invasions of both Crimea in 2014 and the country of Georgia in 2008.

In late January, I had cold symptoms and found out a friend I’d been hanging out with had COVID-19, so I filled out the symptom reporter and received an automated email that told me someone would contact me for additional information.  In the meantime, I scheduled a saliva screening for the next day. When I showed up for the screening, I was told that because I had symptoms, I had to skip the screening and go straight to the nasal swab test. But no one followed up with me on my symptom reporter, and it was impossible to schedule a nasal swab test through the Colorado State University Health Network without the public health referral I hoped to get from the saliva screening.

Since lockdowns started nearly two years ago, there has been a myriad of pandemic-induced internet obsessions. "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness," do it yourself sourdough starters and puzzles were some of the first ones to captivate the quarantined masses, but even as restrictions lift and life slowly creeps back to normal, there's a new addition to tack onto the list: Wordle. For the uninitiated, Wordle is pretty simple. It's a game in which you try to guess a five-letter word in only six guesses. It was developed by a lone software developer named Josh Wardle and was meant to be a fun daily game for his family and friends.