Michael Bourgeois
Covers:
Mostly opinion pieces on politics, but I'll write a piece about almost anything from time to time.
Doesn't Cover:
News, everything I write a clear slant to anyone who reads my stuff.
Graduate Assistant at Mississippi State University, Student Leadership and Community Engagement
Articles by Michael Bourgeois
Why do we analyse weather fronts? Today, at the 21st Cyclone Workshop, we had a great discussion about the value of conceptual models in atmospheric science. I introduced a question a student once… | Helen Dacre | 15 comments
Why do we analyse weather fronts? Today, at the 21st Cyclone Workshop, we had a great discussion about the value of conceptual models in atmospheric science. I introduced a question a student once asked me: “Why do we actually need fronts? Why can’t I just look at forecasts of rain, wind and temperature?” It’s a good question. A useful analogy* is to think of fronts as characters in the weather story. A well-written character is more than just a name.
MultCo DA, Mayor Wheeler to announce auto/retail theft task forces
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office is slated to discuss their newly announced Organized Retail Theft Task Force and Auto Theft Task Force during an 11 a.m. press conference on Monday. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt will be joined by Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, Portland Business Alliance President and CEO Andrew Hoan along with several law enforcement agencies.
Double standards ruined the American celebrity
Two weeks ago, Will Smith struck Chris Rock across the face after Rock made a joke regarding the condition of Jada Smith's alopecia. As a result, the slap at the Academy Awards sparked the internet into two distinct camps with some defending Smith's defense of his wife and others condemning his use of violence against Rock for a joke. Smith's decision to slap Rock, however, is simply symptomatic of a larger problem: the downfall of the American celebrity culture through idolization.
Time to get back to work: pandemic handouts are breeding stagnancy Original
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the U.S. into the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression, decimating the American worker. At its peak adjusted employment rate, nearly 23% of the country was unemployed, according to Rakesh Kochhar and Jesse Bennett of the Pew Research Center. Mass closure of businesses, social distancing requirements and pandemic paranoia shattered the U.S. market, rendering millions of Americans unemployable through no fault of their own.
Students band together through chants to demand the attention of President Joe Biden
Saturdays at Davis Wade this football season would not be complete without the obligatory torrent of "f--- Joe Biden" chants instigated by the Mississippi State University student section. The hatred of the sitting U.S. president is almost as unifying as cheering on the Bulldogs to victory. The student body here at MSU and hundreds of other institutions nationwide are making their displeasure publicly known. In a way, the chants are a referendum.
Streaming Now: "Squid Game"
Service: Netflix Show Title: "Squid Game" Tune in every week for a new review for what is trending on your services. Just in time for Halloween, Netflix recently released its terrifyingly gory depiction of schoolyard playtime, "Squid Game," to an audience of 111 million viewers, making it the biggest series ever for the company. The show features the classic premise of desperate people risking life and limb to have the opportunity to win an enormous amount of money at the end of the series.
Streaming Now: “Ted Lasso”
Service: Apple TV Show Title: "Ted Lasso" Tune in every week for a new review for what is trending on your services. "Ted Lasso" follows the forever optimistic Division 2 football coach learning to adjust to London living as the head manager of AFC Richmond, a Premier League soccer team in England. Hilarity ensues as the viewer watches Ted struggle to learn a game he himself has never experienced and a culture he has never encountered.
Mental health self-diagnoses overshadow those who need true medical attention
Mississippi will be making significant strides in the coming year to meet the mental health needs of the state's residents. The impetus to improve mental health resources in the state follows the recent ruling in a lawsuit imposed by the U.S. Department of Justice. According to Leah Willingham with the Associated Press, Judge Carlton Reeves ruled that the state was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Campus organizations highlight the importance of Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, and to celebrate, the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center at Mississippi State University is hosting multiple events to highlight Hispanic and Latino culture. Kei Mamiya, assistant director of HCDC, said the main annual event for Hispanic Heritage Month is Salsa in the Streets. The Latino Student Association, Ballroom Dance Club and HCDC will host the fun, unique activity to showcase Latino and Hispanic cultures.
Cancel culture wrongfully punishes individuals with differing opinions
Two weeks ago, coffee chain Strange Brew found themselves in hot water when their company was threatened with boycotts and harassment online following the termination of one of the chain's employees. The employee had eaten a pastry during her shift and had forgotten to pay for the product before leaving. Upon realizing her mistake, she apologized and vowed to return to reimburse the company, but by that point it was too late and she was fired from her position.
Tate Reeves is right to remove COVID-19 restrictions
Last Tuesday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced he will be suspending business regulations as a result of the COVID-19 crisis as well as a lifting of the mandatory county mask mandates which have persisted since the beginning of the pandemic.
College students should not be top priority for the COVID-19 vaccines
Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we have recently developed the most powerful weapon yet in the battle against the virus. American pharmaceutical companies Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have developed vaccines in a time unprecedented in human history, and for the first time in almost a year, we see a light at the end of the tunnel. These vaccines, though still new, are reporting a 95% effectiveness rating in giving immunity to the virus.
Republican inaction led to Democratic domination in the 2020 elections
The Republican Party, the great bastion of conservatism in America which I ashamedly count myself a member of, walks away from the 2020 elections discovering new ways to lose in spectacular fashion unrivaled in the world of politics since the Jimmy Carter administration. 2020 involved Democrats exploiting the crises of the past year and mobilizing their voter base against the most polarizing figure in American politics.
Send Cindy Hyde-Smith back to the Senate
The 2020 Senate election is a pivotal contest which will shape the destiny of the nation for years to come. The upper house of Congress currently maintains a 53-47 conservative majority, and maintaining a friendly Senate has surely helped President Donald Trump in passing his agenda during his first term and is critical should he win a second.
Do not second-guess a vote for Michael Guest
The Mississippi 3rd Congressional District race provided new opportunities for the people living in this region of Mississippi. Dorothy "Dot" Benford, a community activist from Jackson, is the Democratic challenger for Republican Michael Guest's congressional seat. Guest has represented Mississippi's 3rd District for two years since the retirement of Gregg Harper in 2019.
The Supreme Court needs supreme neutrality
Following the recent passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court, the stakes of the most divisive election in modern American history have significantly raised at the eleventh hour. The debate rages over judicial supremacy over the nine justices.
Keep campus safe with Cowbell Well screenings
Maintaining an effective educational environment that accommodates for seeing students in person every day of the week in the middle of a global pandemic is a tall order for any institution to meet, but this is exactly the situation we find ourselves in this current semester.
Politicization of the pandemic impedes our rights
The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing hysteria the virus brought with it has sent the U.S. into a tailspin across nearly every aspect of American life. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 6,000 points from an all-time high in February. Thousands of Americans have died as a result of the virus.
Celebrity opinions are not more valuable
At the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, Ricky Gervais spent his opening monologue criticizing the worst Hollywood had to offer and poking fun at the loss of integrity of the modern film industry. The message of Gervais' speech is encapsulated in his final words when he said, "So if you do win an award tonight, don't use it as a platform to make a political speech. You're in no position to lecture the public about anything.
Not everything should be political
In the era of President Donald Trump, the United States is entering a new stage in the country's history where there is polarization on the political spectrum and a different culture we have yet to experience. We live in a time where encountering politics on a daily basis is an expected routine for most Americans. We live in a time where politics are entrenched in every aspect of American life.
Conservatives and the alt-right are wholly seperate
Richard Spencer, president of the National Policy Institute, recently came under fire for spewing racist comments and white supremacist remarks on a leaked audio tape. This revelation should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Spencer and his political ideology. Richard Spencer is one of the most prominent figures in the political fringe-group known as the alternative right, a radical facet to the mainstream American right.
Groupthink is detrimental to the political process
The 2020 election has been hijacked by the Democrats and the Republicans, as each vies to influence and appeal to the most wide-reaching base as possible. Of course, this is the nature of political discourse. The parties fairly competing for power, as should be the case for the representative nature of the American governmental system, but the motivations of the parties have shifted from the productive debates of the past.
The impeachment scandal is manufactured by the media
Since the beginning of his presidency, the Democratic Party has been making fruitless promises to remove Donald Trump from office by means of impeachment. Armed with some sense of civic duty and moral obligation, the noble Democrats seek to remove the scourge of the incompetent Donald Trump from office, saving America from the tyranny of the democratic election they willingly took part in. At least, that is how Democrats see this cause in their own minds.
Politically correct language is socially dangerous
At the beginning of August, the Democratic Socialists of America held their biannual convention in Atlanta to discuss what changes they would make to the American system should they hold political power. Their dreams of creating a socialist utopia aside, looking at how this organization operates within itself paints a frightening picture of American social order that they wish upon the country. The convention itself seemed to devolve into a contest to see what delegate could be the most offended.
The Fresh is first in dining
At Mississippi State University, the student body is blessed to have access to countless resources and benefits that help students grow as scholars and as people. In the relentless pursuit to better ourselves as individuals, the Bulldog Family can work up quite the appetite. Fortunately, the university has students covered with a wide variety of on-campus dining options.
Political incrementalism erodes America's foundation
In February, Democratic representative from the state of New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a piece of legislation that would completely overhaul how the United States confronts what Democratic politicians see as the environmental crisis our planet is currently facing.
Abortion is a 'crime against humanity'
Mississippi State University was visited by the Consuming Fire Fellowship radical religious group last Friday, seeking to engage in an argument with any student or faculty member who would listen. As they picketed their signs across the Drill Field, the group preached a message that was anti-gay, regressive in its understanding of the roles of women and anti-abortion. I was given the opportunity to personally interact with several members of the church, specifically on the issue of abortion.
Political intolerance should not be condoned
Last Wednesday, Mississippi State University students welcomed the Young Americans for Freedom’s chapter here at MSU with a juvenile chorus of "F-yous" and middle fingers from the more politically radicalized students among us. Apparently, anyone right of Karl Marx who peacefully stands next to a banner with the words "Build the Wall" across it is a cause for labeling that person a white supremacist, or at least this is indicative of how today’s Left sees our world.
Our constitution should not be viewed as antiquated
"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States ... shall be the supreme Law of the Land." This is an excerpt from Article VI of our Constitution, unambiguously enumerating its purpose for every citizen within the U.S. The Constitution reaches far beyond party lines or petty politics, as the Constitution is the foundation of American freedom, which the founders constructed nearly 250 years ago alongside the establishment of American democracy.
The silent war on diversity of thought
American universities are facing a diversity crisis threatening the very purpose of higher education. I am not referring to diversity of race, gender or sexual orientation, as college campuses are the most accepting places on the planet for personal expression. No, this crisis refers to a lack of diversity far more paramount than skin color or pronoun preferences. Diversity of thought, the freedom to express dissenting viewpoints intelligently is under fire inside the modern college campus.
The Gillette advertisement is a symptom of an anti-male society
The differences between men and women is an aspect of society that should be celebrated instead of vilified. Yet, modern culture has declared war on this biological fact–setting society on a course whose destination blurs the lines between male and female. Emboldened by political correctness and the urge to virtue-signal, Gillette perfectly illustrates the move to a genderless society.
What is a fair minimum wage? Zero dollars and zero cents.
The current minimum wage within the state of Mississippi is $7.25 an hour, which is the lowest possible minimum wage within a state according to federal mandate. As a result, progressive politicians have run and won on the promise of raising the minimum wage. These politicians turn the minimum wage issue into a moral one, claiming a raise is a decent and necessary thing for the American people. This is a falsehood.
The death of debate: how university speech codes killed free speech
College students are witnessing the beginnings of the demise of the right to freedom of speech, promised by America’s founders over 200 years ago. According to the Constitution, "Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech." Freedom of speech is legally absolute, but university administrators seek to undermine the constitution itself through their own campus policy, these policies are called speech codes.
Calling Trump a fascist is an attempt to discredit his presidency
"He is a fascist!" These are the accusations thrown against President Donald Trump both inside and outside of Washington D.C. when addressing his politics. But what exactly is fascism, and why is it such an insult against our president? In short, fascism is a political system centered around ultra-nationalism and identity politics.
Social justice is not always as 'just' as it appears
Social justice, a term often employed, but rarely defined by politicians in Washington, has become pervasive in modern culture, especially in the era or President Donald Trump.So, what does it actually mean?
Executive orders erode legislative power
The Constitution, and by extension, the very foundation of American democracy, is being undermined by the very people we elected to protect it. The guilty party: the executive branch of the American government; its crime: the executive order.Countless presidents on either side of the aisle have twisted the wording of Article II of the Constitution’s “grant of executive power,” to overstep their own authority and bypass the legislature entirely.
Socialism will never be the answer to America's problems
Bernie Sanders, progressive icon and likely candidate of the 2020 Democratic nomination, was quoted by Patrick Healy of the New York Times saying, “To me, democratic socialism means democracy. It means creating a government which represents all of us, not just the wealthiest people in the country.”Does it really, Sanders? The American economy has always valued hard work and determination to make something of every citizen, and the much reviled 1 percent is always open to new members.
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