Measles! Whooping Cough! Polio! Sound like diseases of the past? Think again.

The Council on Foreign Relations created an interactive map to demonstrate the comeback of many preventable diseases. The United States has especially seen a resurgence of whooping cough that is making public health specialists scratch their heads.

Here is a statistic to put that into perspective…

Whooping cough affected less than 2,000 people in the early 1980s. In 2013, the prevalence was 24,000 cases, down from 50,000 in 2012.

Despite these re-emerging preventable diseases, many parents still refuse to get their children vaccinated. For some it is religious reasons, some babies can’t get vaccinated because of medical procedures, others fear vaccines cause autism but don’t worry, that was proven false.

In lower-income countries, the question isn’t whether to get vaccinated or not, it is lack of access. In Pakistan, polio epidemics are a public health threat because the Taliban has stopped humanitarian workers providing vaccinations accusing them of being spies.

Regardless of the reason for lack of vaccinations, all regions of the world are experiencing devastating consequences.  

It’s true, no one likes getting shots, but we here at USDemocrazy can guarantee they are a lot better than the symptoms of whooping cough.

If you’re like us, and most Americans, you watched or at least attempted to watch the Super Bowl blowout last Sunday. If you are not a Seahawks fan, nor even a football fan, you may have watched the Super Bowl because of the one-of-a-kind commercials.

This year, one ad has been singled out for particular praise and scorn.

            The Coca-Cola commercial is called “It’s Beautiful”  featuring the song “America the Beautiful” sang in multiple languages. It had scenes celebrating Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and even included a same sex couple (a first in the history of Super Bowl commercials).

            The ad sparked the Twitter hash tag “#SpeakAmerican”, with many arguing that languages other than English should not be used to advertise products, because English is the de facto language of the United States.

            Others were unhappy with the use of multiple languages to make a commercial appeal to racial minorities. They suggested the strategy was reminiscent of RJ Reynold’s targeted advertisements of menthol cigarettes to African-Americans.

            So what’s your take on the commercial? Hit or miss?

W3C introduced new input types to support working with month and year in HTML5. This article explores how to use this input type in your HTML5 web pages.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has said he is laying the groundwork for a possible presidential bid in 2016, but has yet to formally announce he is running.

Public Policy Professor and Chair Donald Norris was interviewed by WJZ-TV about what a potential White House campaign would mean for O’Malley.

“He’s got to raise a lot of money and he’s got to raise his name recognition considerably,” Norris said.

A recent poll showed Hillary Clinton as the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination, but Norris said anything can happen for O’Malley with the presidential election more than two and a half years away.

“Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. They were in the same position at some point when they started running and nobody gave them any chance whatsoever,” Norris said. “All three became president.”

You can watch the full interview on WJZ-TV here.