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Built off the legacy of her mother, a daughter earns two degrees

WSU graduate wants to change the world through policy.

Jessica DoJessica Do walked away from Washington State University on Saturday with two degrees, a hefty résumé and a couple of internships under her belt. And despite the multiple tries it took to find the right majors—sociology and political science—the 21-year-old graduated a semester early.

For Do, the motivation to succeed comes from several sources: her mentors, her breathing, her mother. In fact, it was her mother’s immigration to the U.S. from Vietnam that most inspired Do to make something great of her life.

“She just wanted a better life for all her children, and I just wanted to make her proud,” Do said. “I don’t want to disregard everything that she’s worked hard for to come to America, and not contribute to society.”

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Moscow-Pullman Daily News

WSU professor: Don’t get spooked by nukes

Expert tries to calm fears, raises concerns about North Korean nuclear crisis

Threat of a nuclear attack on the United States by North Korea may sound scarier than anything Halloween could bring, but Washington State University professor Thomas Preston believes the threat to the U.S. is not as scary as some might think.

Tom PrestonPreston, a C.O. Johnson Distinguished Professor of political science at WSU, shared his thoughts on the North Korean nuclear crisis in a continuation of the Foley Institute’s Coffee and Politics Series on Tuesday afternoon on the WSU campus.

When his book “From Lambs to Lions: Future Security Relationships in a World of Biological and Nuclear Weapons” was published in 2007, Preston said North Korea was then early on in its proliferation of nuclear weapons. Since then, Preston said, the country has developed more redundant capabilities.

The real threat, currently, is to North Korea’s neighbors. Half of South Korea’s population is located within 25 miles of the Korean Demilitarized Zone – that’s closer than Lewiston is to Pullman, Preston said. And besides its nuclear capabilities, North Korea has a large chemical weapons arsenal and a biological weapons program to boot.

Preston said people should keep those facts in mind when pondering why the U.S. does not just attack North Korea. More than 16 million people could be at risk of North Korea’s capabilities, Preston said, and a new Korean war could cause an estimated 1 million casualties.

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Moscow-Pullman Daily News

When Big Money Lands In A Small Vancouver Election

The closely watched Vancouver Port Commission race is unlike any other. The future of a multi-million dollar oil terminal at the port hangs in the balance. And that’s made things personal in this close-knit community.

Mark Stephan
Stephan

“This is truly a very local race,” said Mark Stephan, a political science professor at Washington State University’s Vancouver campus.

He called the amount of cash going into this port race unprecedented.

“To have so much money pouring from interests outside the area,” Stephan said, “it just doesn’t usually happen that way.” » More …

Opinion: Populism’s Problems

It’s not an ideology but a style of political discourse, characterized by oversimplification.

By Cornell W. Clayton, WSU political science professor and director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service

Cornell Clayton
Cornell Clayton

A specter haunts our politics—the specter of populism.

Movements like the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street thrive, Sarah Palin and Elizabeth Warren are political stars, and Donald Trump is president. In Europe, Britain votes to leave the EU, Hungary and Poland elect populist governments, and politicians like Marine Le Pen in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands grow in popularity.

What explains populism’s appeal? And when should we be concerned?

First, populism is not an ideology but a style of political discourse; one which equates “the people” (the silent majority, the forgotten man, “real” Americans) with virtue, and elites (political, economic, or cultural) with evil.

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The Inlander

Donald Trump Didn’t Kill Political Advertising

What worked for him—social media and free media coverage of his rallies—won’t work for most candidates, especially in next year’s midterms.

The failure of campaign ads in the last U.S. presidential race became the conventional wisdom, with the general election seen as the ultimate judge. At the presidential level, the importance of ads remains an open question thanks to the sitting president.

Travis Ridout
Travis Ridout

But Travis Ridout, a government professor at Washington State University, thinks ads still matter—that they’re worth spending millions on. “There is a different dynamic at play,” said Ridout, who co-directs the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political ads. “When you’re dealing with, say, a House race, oftentimes the challenger isn’t someone people have heard of before. Advertising can be very effective at introducing a candidate.”

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New Republic