Category Archives: Uncategorized

Eagles Should Sign ‘Ready’ Kaepernick

By Angela Nguyen

Pennsauken, N.J.

The Eagles’ loss to the Titans in Thursday’s preseason game wasn’t their worst loss of the night: Backup quarterback Nate Sudfeld broke his left wrist in the second quarter and could miss the next six weeks. The Eagles need a strong, seasoned backup quarterback. The team would be wise to consider Colin Kaepernick.

Though Kaepernick hasn’t played since 2016, his past performance with the 49ers outshines the Eagles’ current options to back up Wentz. If the Eagles want to win another Super Bowl, signing Kaepernick could provide a much-needed sense of security.

In six years with San Francisco, Kaepernick guided the 49ers to two playoff berths, including a Super Bowl appearance in 2013. He gained notoriety for his running ability, but he was also a good passer, completing 59.8 percent of career attempts and throwing 72 touchdowns, with an 88.9 career passer rating. He led seven comebacks and seven game-winning drives.

Kaepernick decided to kneel during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality, and he has not been signed to any NFL team since. Kaepernick’s demonstration and his continued social activism have drawn critics, including President Trump, but that shouldn’t concern the Eagles. Not afraid of protest themselves, most of the team refused to visit the White House after their Super Bowl title, and defensive back Malcolm Jenkins has raised his fist during the anthem in solidarity with Kaepernick’s cause.

Last week, Kaepernick posted a video showcasing his training, declaring he is “still ready.” Considering his NFL accomplishments, it’s more than clear that he is.

It’s Time For Journalists To Respect Women’s Soccer

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By Alberto Lopez

Mission, Texas

When the U.S. Women’s National Team beat the Netherlands 2-0 in July’s Women’s World Cup final, 16 million Americans tuned in. The white home uniforms the USA wore that day in Lyon, France, became Nike’s top-selling soccer jersey of all time for a single season. Four years earlier, 25 million people watched the U.S. women beat Japan in the 2015 final, a record for a men’s or women’s match. But despite the obvious popularity of the team, the media still treats women’s soccer like a sideshow.

That doesn’t have to be the case. Fans may not be aware, but all 23 players who won the Women’s World Cup play in the National Women’s Soccer League, a collection of nine teams across the country.

But with the exception of Portland Thorns FC, who averaged 16,578 fans in 2018, NWSL teams struggle to draw crowds. Seven teams averaged fewer than 5,000 fans, including New Jersey’s Sky Blue FC, which averaged a league-worst 2,390.

Some journalists cover the women’s game with the enthusiasm it deserves. But far too many sports networks and publications overwhelmingly favor men’s soccer, even covering foreign leagues more than female teams—stacked with star footballers, from both the national team and elsewhere—in the U.S. That includes social media: @ FOXSoccer tweets eight or more times a day about men’s soccer, but the account’s last tweet about women’s soccer was on Aug. 3, during the USWNT’s win over Ireland on their World Cup victory tour.

But there are signs that the media is starting to appreciate the women’s game. The NWSL recently signed a television deal with ESPN to broadcast 14 games. And while those matches will be broadcast on ESPN News or ESPN2 rather than ESPN, it’s a step in the right direction.

After the announcement of the deal, ESPN executive Burke Magnus said, “We are pleased to once again televise the National Women’s Soccer League and showcase many of the world’s top female players when they return to their professional club teams.” It’s long overdue, but it’s a positive sign that ESPN is recognizing the value of pro women’s soccer.

Despite the inadequate coverage, fans are showing more interest in the league. NWSL attendance rose by 70 percent after the Women’s World Cup, according to USA Today, and even long-struggling Sky Blue had to relocate its upcoming match against Reign FC—featuring USWNT star Megan Rapinoe—to Red Bull Arena because of high ticket demand.

But as the World Cup fades from memory, the media needs to continue covering the NWSL. Women don’t just play soccer once every four years—they play every day.

Tanguay Brings It On As Eagles’ Male Cheerleader

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Kyle Tanguay is the first male cheerleader on the Eagles squad in 35 years. Photo credit: Brian Rokus

By Jacky Huang

Simpsonville, S.C.

Backstage, a line of women in cocktail dresses with asymmetrical hemlines and off-the-shoulder straps waited anxiously, hoping for an announcer to call their number. Some of the 61 hopefuls would make the 2019 Philadelphia Eagles cheerleading squad. Some would not.

“Contestant number 32!” an announcer called out. “Kyle!”

A man in a black suit ran onto the stage, beaming, and took a bow. The crowd roared.

Kyle Tanguay had become the first male cheerleader on the Eagles squad in 35 years. As one of a small but elite group of NFL dancers, Tanguay challenges preconceived notions of cheerleading in the macho world of professional football. “All too often, whether it’s cheerleading or not, men that are going into dance often think about how other people are going to receive them,” Tanguay said. “I’m guilty of that, as I get nervous and sometimes think, ‘what if they don’t like me?’”

By all accounts, Philly likes him. A New Jersey native, Tanguay grew up with sports. He was a Boy Scout who played T-ball, hockey, and soccer. None of them stuck. Then he found dance. There was something about the gold floor and mirrors, and the twists and turns of his first jazz class that made him keep going back. He never felt like he was marginalized or outcasted because of his gender.

Later, Tanguay pursued dance at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. There, he became a fan of the Eagles after watching them play every Sunday with his friend and her boyfriend. Those two worlds combined on New Year’s Eve last year, when, while waiting for the ball to drop, he took a chance and emailed the Eagles.

They responded. An official told Tanguay they “were open to the idea of men trying out for the squad.” As it turned out, the team had had male dancers in the 1970s and ’80s. The Eagles, the team official said, have “always been inclusive and diverse.”

For weeks, Tanguay practiced with his roommate Rae Holtz, who was also auditioning for the squad. Tanguay and Holtz made it through three rounds of auditions before final cuts. He waited to hear his number called. “I was very nervous. I was shaking. I was very quiet,” Tanguay said.

He made the squad. “The world has never stopped spinning since,” he said, “and it’s been such an honor.”

It’s Time For Equality In The WNBA

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By La’Nisha Richardson

Yazoo City, MISS.

Last Summer, LeBron James signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. A’ja Wilson, a forward for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, responded to the news on Twitter: “154M… must.be.nice. We over here looking for a M but Lord, let me get back in my lane.”
Have you ever noticed that WNBA players don’t live in big mansions and ride in lavish cars like NBA players? The reason is that they can’t afford it. While 50 percent of NBA revenue goes to player salaries, WNBA players only receive an estimated 22 percent. The minimum starting salary in the NBA is nearly $600,000. In the WNBA: $50,000. Female basketball stars get paid much more overseas.

I’m a point guard on my high school team, which takes dedication and hard work. I can only imagine what it’s like for a WNBA player. I’m sure the top stars wonder why they’re spending so much time practicing to get paid so much less than an NBA benchwarmer.
To be sure, the NBA brings in more money than the WNBA. But the women put in the same amount of training, practice, travel, and time as the men, and should be compensated accordingly. Gender equality starts with income equality. Being a woman shouldn’t determine your pay rate.

WNBA players like Wilson and Skylar Diggins-Smith of the Dallas Wings have spoken out about the pay gap. But it feels like league officials haven’t heard them. They need to give players 50 percent of league revenue and find more marketing opportunities, such as sponsorships and commercials, for them. The league is trying to fix this, but it’s not moving fast enough, and it might take a strike to get equal pay.
And though the NBA’s Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook—as well as LeBron James—have attended games to show support, an NBA player shouldn’t have to show up to get people talking about the WNBA. This is sexism, plain and simple. Everyone should speak out.

Titans Trounce Eagles, 27-10

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The Tennessee Titans kicked off their 2019 preseason with a resounding victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday. Photo Credit: Brian Rokus

By Ella Wilkerson

Philadelphia, PA.

Walking in the parking lot of Lincoln Financial Field, or the Linc, as native Philadelphians call it, you could feel the excitement of Eagles fans. Green was in view everywhere. It was just a preseason game be- tween the Eagles and the Tennessee Titans, but Philadelphia fans did not seem to care.
That level of energy from the fans didn’t transfer to the Eagles, who ended up losing their preseason opener 27-10 on Thursday.
With Nate Sudfeld starting at quarterback for the Eagles in place of Carson Wentz, the first quarter was a bit slow. Jake Elliott scored the first points of the game in the first quarter with a 53-yard field goal to give Philadelphia a 3-0 lead.
But Tennessee soon took control. In the second quarter, tight end MyCole Pruitt caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Tannehill to give the Titans a lead, though Austin Barnard missed the extra point. The Eagles responded with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Nate Sudfeld to Marken Michel, but the Titans reclaimed the lead with Anthony Firkser’s 23-yard touchdown catch. A successful two-point conversion attempt gave Tennessee a 14-10 lead at the half.
Perhaps the most significant moment of the game came right before the quarter ended, when Sudfeld suffered a left wrist injury. The third-year quarterback was expected to take over as Philadelphia’s backup after Nick Foles’ departure this offseason, but he’ll reportedly miss several weeks while he recovers.
The Titans dominated the second half. Eagles fans started to leave during a scoreless third quarter, and two touchdown passes from Titans quarterback Logan Woodside in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach.
Meanwhile, Cody Kessler and rookie Clayton Thorson struggled at quarterback for Philadelphia. Kessler finished the game with three completions on six attempts, and Thorson completed two passes on nine attempts.
Could this preseason game be a glimpse of Philadelphia’s regular season? No one can say for sure, but Wentz is the starter, and if he stays healthy, they could have a chance to win some games. Otherwise, especially considering Wentz’s injury history, the season is not looking as pretty as 2017, which ended with the Eagles winning the Super Bowl.

Expired drugs found in stores

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This story was reported by the staff of The Princeton Summer Journal and written by Fernando Cienfuegos, Jayda Jones, and Evelyn Moradian.

There is a 7-Eleven located on a busy commercial thoroughfare in New Brunswick, next to a dollar store and across the street from a pub. Near the 32-ounce Slurpees and over-warmed pizza is an aisle devoted to health products. And several of these health products may not be as healthy as advertised.

Two boxes of 7-Eleven brand Migraine Formula Pain Relief expired in September 2017. Another box of Migraine Formula Pain Relief expired this July. A pair of All Day Allergy Relief boxes, also 7-Eleven brand, expired earlier this summer. And a cough suppressant sat six months past-due on the shelf. None of them should have been there.

The problem isn’t limited to 7-Eleven. This August, a team of reporters from The Princeton Summer Journal surveyed pharmacies and grocery stores in central New Jersey to investigate whether they were stocking outdated drugs, baby products and food. They found 75 expired products in 12 stores. The products ranged from dietary supplements to infant medication.

Eight stores were in the Trenton area: CVS, at 1100 Liberty St., Trenton; ShopRite, at 1750 N. Olden Ave., Ewing; CVS, 1618 N. Olden Ave., Ewing; Rite Aid, 201 N. Hermitage Ave., Trenton; Healthcare Pharmacy, 225 E. State St., Trenton; Rite Aid, 127 E. State St., Trenton; Episcopo’s Pharmacy, 1125 Chambers St., Trenton; Colonial Farms Food Market, 137 E. State St., Trenton. Four were in the New Brunswick area: CVS, 959 Livingston Ave., North Brunswick; Walgreens, 20 Jersey Ave., New Brunswick; Tropical Supermarket, 959 Livingston Ave., North Brunswick; 7-Eleven, 358 George St., New Brunswick.

Federal law requires manufacturers to label drugs with expiration dates, which reassure customers that they are safe and fully potent. According to the Federal Drug Administration, using expired medication can be ineffective or even dangerous. Certain drugs, for example, are susceptible to bacterial growth if past their expiration date. In New Jersey, state law bars stores from stocking outdated drugs.

CVS, Rite Aid, and 7-Eleven did not respond to requests for comment. ShopRite and Walgreens responded to the Summer Journal’s queries, but were not able to address them before publication.

To be sure, Princeton Summer Journal reporters did not attempt to buy any of the products; they merely identified the products on the shelves. If a customer had attempted to buy any of the expired products, it is possible that the expiration date could have been flagged at the checkout counter.

It is not entirely clear why this problem persists. When Sue Berrian, an assistant manager at the New Brunswick 7-Eleven, was asked why the store stocked outdated products, she explained that deliveries could be erratic. Asked when she expected the next delivery of health products, she said, “I have no idea,” before telling the Summer Journal that “we have one new [delivery] guy that keeps messing up.”

Expired items found at three CVS stores included acetaminophen capsules, multivitamins, foot creams, melatonin pills, probiotics, and condoms. “It could have just been an error or someone rotating the product incorrectly,” said Devin, a manager at a Trenton CVS, who didn’t give her last name. She then asked group of Summer Journal reporters, “You don’t have to announce yourself when you come in?”

CVS has been repeatedly penalized for allegedly stocking expired products. In 2016, the company settled with the Pennsylvania attorney general for $450,000 after investigators found out-of-date infant formula and over-the-counter medication at five of the six stores they visited. CVS did not acknowledge any wrongdoing, but did agree to institute training for certain employees and give coupons to Pennsylvania customers who find an expired product. Earlier, the New York attorney general’s office found that 142 CVS and 112 Rite Aid stores in more than 41 counties sold expired products—some of them two years past their expiration dates. As a result, CVS settled for $850,000.

Large corporations are not the only ones who appear to struggle with this issue. Episcopo’s Pharmacy, a small business in Trenton, sold an array of items, from sweets to toys. It also stocked expired medicine. These included gas relief medicine, nasal decongestant and vision supplements. Pharmacist John Berkenkopf said he checked his shelves “every few weeks,” but conceded that expired products sometimes slip through. “It just happens,” he said.

Shah Alkesh, who manages Colonial Farms Food Market in Trenton, explained why expired products can stay on his shelves past their sell-date. “Everybody [is] going to Amazon,” he said, noting that he has difficulty replacing his inventory.

No expired products were found at the CVS on Nassau Street in Princeton. Customers exiting that store were disturbed by the Journal’s findings. “I feel like it’s a disservice to consumers who are trusting these companies and are purchasing something that they think they can use,” said 31-year-old Brigid Gardner, after learning some New Jersey pharmacies were stocking expired drugs. Arifa Khandwalla, 47, of Princeton, New Jersey, agreed: “I don’t think they should be doing that. They don’t have the right to sell it to me.”

GOP nominee warns of ‘judicial dictatorship,’ forced sterilization

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By Delia Batdorff

Madison, TN

Anthony Pappas is in his natural environment: in front of a whiteboard with a dry-erase marker in his right hand, his name and title written behind him. Pappas, an economics professor at St. John’s College in Queens, New York, doesn’t allow a valuable second to slip by: He immediately begins his presentation by saying, “We are living under a judicial dictatorship and you’re not aware of it.”

He doesn’t stay on this topic very long or try to explain himself. Instead, he jumps into a hypothetical situation. He tells us a story of people walking through a door and being sterilized; carefully, he goes into detail about sterilization and writes “fallopian tubes” and “testicles” on the board. He continues his speech, as if he is lecturing to his college students. Before long, he ties his situation into his argument as he explains a case where a teenage girl was forcefully sterilized. The judge was never punished for this. The woman carried around a blanket for the rest of her life to represent the baby she would never have, he said. He walks towards his bag and pulls out a pale pink towel before saying, “I don’t have a blanket, I have a towel.” Gently, he holds the towel in his arms like a mother would hold a baby, as his eyes start to glisten.

Next, he brings up Mary Kennedy, the ex-wife of Robert Kennedy Jr. After a difficult divorce in which she lost custody of her children, she committed suicide. Pappas argues that if even five immigrant mothers killed themselves, it would be a national story, yet women like Mary Kennedy are committing suicide and the judicial system doesn’t care. Pappas hands out an article about Mary Kennedy with his handwriting in the margins. It reads: “Suicides of mothers and fathers going through divorce are not investigated. Why? Judges are the only officials who have immunity.” It’s part of a pattern, Pappas said. “The parent first despairs and commits suicide.”

Despite his focus on mental health, he fails to mention anything other than suicide, mostly in regard to custody cases. Nor does he explain how he plans to prove that the judges influenced the suicides, or how, as he claims, this would fall under the category of murder or manslaughter. When asked what actions he has taken to prevent suicide, he said, “I have no power to do anything in my power. I’m just a professor.”

Next, the economic professor begins detailing his own divorce case. He offers a copy of one of the court documents to the journalists; he has annotated it himself. In the margins in careful handwriting, he has written “nonsense” and “did not happen” regarding his wife’s loss of income due to time spent in court and her allegations of domestic abuse. The judge presiding over him was “like a dictator” and the domestic abuse claims of his wife were “a total hallucination and it’s totally irrational,” he said. When a journalist asks him another question regarding the abuse, he replies, “You go to the police and tell them to arrest me.”

Pappas said he is unable to access any donations or funds for his campaign because they have been “frozen because of the divorce. People donate, but I can’t access them,” he said. In November, voters from the 14th district of New York will decide whether to send him to Congress. His opponent, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is heavily favored to win.

GOP’s Pappas warns that judges see themselves as ‘gods’

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By Fatima Rivera Gomez

McFarland, CA

When Anthony Pappas, the Republican candidate for Congress in New York’s 14th congressional district, appeared at a press conference at Fordham University on Wednesday, journalists initially spoke over him because they did not realize he was the candidate they were waiting for.

Pappas is running against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is expected to win the election this November in the heavily Democratic district, which covers parts of the Bronx and Queens. Wearing an untucked, button-front short-sleeve shirt and tattered khaki pants, Pappas—an economics professor at St. John’s University—began the press conference by asking the reporters how they would have felt if they had been sterilized. He then wrote a few words on the whiteboard including: “tubal ligation,” “fallopian tubes,” and “testicles.”

In the midst of some confusion in the room, Pappas explained Stump v. Sparkman, a 1978 case in which a woman sued the judge who ordered her to undergo a non-consensual tubal ligation when she was 15 years old. On the verge of tears, he pulled a towel from his bag in reference to a book about the case, The Blanket She Carried. The towel symbolized the baby the woman could not have, he said.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which set an important precedent by ruling that judges are immune from being sued. In a packet handed out during the press conference, Pappas wrote “OVERTURN STUMP V. SPARKMAN, the worst decision in the 20th century by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Pappas’ congressional platform centers on criminal and justice reform and an end to judges being immune from prosecution. “Judges are above the law. They can make decisions that are retaliatory, against the law, against the facts, deliberately false and they cannot be sued,” Pappas said.

He also believes that he is a victim of the court system himself, after a divorce in which his wife accused him of domestic abuse—an accusation he denies. A court decision Pappas distributed showed he had spent more than $592,000 on his divorce.

At one point, Pappas described himself as a Theodore Roosevelt figure for Republicans. When asked about his opponent, Pappas said that Ocasio-Cortez is an energetic and sincere person, adding that he expects that she will win the election.

Beyond platitudes, Ocasio-Cortez

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By Aleina Dume

Richmond Hill, NY

When I first heard about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic candidate for New York’s 14th Congressional District, I was excited. She has advocated for issues I care about, like abolishing the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency, reforming the prison system, and providing tuition-free public college nationwide. Like me, Ocasio-Cortez is a Latina who grew up in New York City. She embodies the demographics of my community. She looks more like a neighbor than a politician. Although I live in the 5th district, many of my family members live in the 14th. I was excited my community could vote for one of our own.

With all of the media coverage surrounding her campaign, I tried to get more information on the specifics of her platform. On her website, Ocasio-Cortez advocates for things like a “Peace Economy,” and a national free public college tuition system. These are interesting ideas, but her website is light on details for how to finance or carry out these plans.

In her proposal for higher education reform, for example, she references a “national education system,” which does not exist. She cites the University of California system as an example, but the system has struggled to remain affordable for many of its low-income students. The example also belies a broader problem with her plan, which is that tuition costs at public colleges are controlled by the state. She makes no explanation for how she would nationalize the system, which may not even be possible.

Similarly, she plans to turn America into a “Peace Economy” by bringing home our troops from engagements in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia. Though she is right to tap into America’s exhaustion with foreign wars, she does not lay out a plan for how to remove troops in a way that will maintain stability in the region.

A former community organizer and educator with real ties to her community, Ocasio-Cortez is qualified. But she is living in the world of ideas without providing specifics. It’s important that people feel demographically represented, however identity politics can only take a candidate so far. Their specific plans to address the issues on their platform is what should take them to Congress.

In thesis, Mueller stressed rule of law

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By Ngan Chiem

Pennsauken, NJ

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been preparing for the Russia investigation for more than 50 years.

Mueller is currently investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, including possible collusion by President Donald Trump’s campaign, but 52 years ago, when Mueller was an undergraduate at Princeton, he was fixated on another question.

The future FBI director, then 22, was thinking about Africa.

In 1966, the International Court of Justice, the judicial branch of the United Nations, ruled on a case deciding whether South Africa had the right to expand apartheid—a system of racial segregation—to nearby Southwest Africa, now known as Namibia. At the time, South Africa had authority over the area, which came with the condition that South Africa would govern humanely and promote peace. It was this promise that encouraged Ethiopia and Liberia to bring the case to the United Nations, claiming apartheid was unethical.

Mueller’s thesis focused on one question: Did the International Court of Justice—or, the World Court —even have the right to rule on the case? The majority opinion at the time was that the Court did.

Historically, the World Court was designed to be a place where sovereign states could request the legal opinion of the United Nations. But the dissent argued that South Africa was completely within its rights under an agreement signed after South Africa took the territory after World War I.

In his thesis, Mueller recognized the legal strength of the dissenting judges’ opinion that the Court had no right to interfere with South Africa. But he also argued that the Court’s ethical responsibility to intervene was written into its mandate. In the face of strong legal arguments on both sides, Mueller turned his attention to the moral issue at the heart of the case: apartheid.

“He’s really saying, when the law is ambiguous, you should do the ethnically right thing,” said Mueller’s thesis adviser Richard Falk, an emeritus professor at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. “That’s an issue that many lawyers don’t understand. And he understood it and at a very early age.”

In the end, Mueller concluded that despite the strength of the argument denying the court’s authority to rule on the issue, it was outweighed by the court’s ethical obligation to preserve human rights. The Court’s decision to take South Africa’s case, he wrote, “was a positive contribution … to the ultimate goal of a world peace founded upon a rule of law.”

Now, more than 50 years later, Mueller stands on the precipice of a decision in the Russia investigation, which is how to handle any potential misconduct by the President of the United States and his campaign. To predict a man’s judgement based on his writing from decades ago can be precarious, especially considering the high stakes. But at least during his undergraduate days, Mueller saw flexibility in the law. “What he wrote as a Princeton senior,” Falk said, remains “quite interesting—and relevant.”