Law enforcement “function creep,” the gradual expansion or alteration of the powers, authority, or technological capabilities of a police force or other law enforcement agency, can have serious negative implications for civil liberties and privacy. As law enforcement agencies are given new tools or interpret existing tools in new ways, they may begin to use the powers or technologies in ways that were not originally intended or anticipated. This can result in the erosion of civil liberties and an increase in surveillance and control over the general population.

On January 1, the CBS show “60 Minutes” featured Paul Ehrlich, who warned viewers about the threat of “mass extinction,” which was “high now and getting higher all the time.” This was not a new theme for the insect biologist, 90. 

It’s easy to miss stories about government spending. It’s even easier when the management of the current U.S. Congress deliberately times its votes on the biggest spending bill of 2022 to take place around the Christmas holiday season. It means they’re trying to minimize the amount of attention on what they’re doing.

Some movies simply should not be made, regardless of their artistic potential. Blonde, now streaming on Netflix, is one of them. A distasteful, shockingly incomplete, and highly fictionalized cinematic meditation on Marilyn Monroe, Blonde clocks in at three and a half hours. And it’s a slog.

Michael A. Peterson is the CEO of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a think tank dedicated to addressing America’s long-term fiscal challenges. He’s alarmed at the rate at which the cost of servicing the U.S. national debt is increasing as 2022 comes to an end.

A recent National Review article, on education reforms implemented by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, praised original research by the Independent Institute. Independent’s report titled “Better than Common Core: Florida’s New K-12 Standards Raise the Bar” demonstrated that the state’s new English language arts and math standards are now the strongest in the country and suggested they could serve as a model for the rest of the nation. 

“One possibility relates to a distrust of government or belief in freedom that contributes to both vaccination preferences and increased traffic risks,” say the authors of COVID Vaccine Hesitancy and Risk of a Traffic Crash, published by the American Journal of Medicine but authored by a trio in Canada. 

The “Elf on the Shelf” toy has become a popular Christmas tradition in many households, with the small figurine serving as a mischievous scout for Santa Claus, reporting back on the behavior of children during the holiday season. However, some people have raised concerns that the toy may be conditioning children to accept the concept of surveillance, particularly in light of recent debates over government surveillance and privacy.

We have enough data, including the November figures, to conclude that the U.S. economy continues to stagnate, that price inflation is far from being under control, and, more significantly, that Keynesian policies do not produce the effects its promoters believe they do.

Federal government debt increased by more than $2 trillion in fiscal year 2022, from $28.429 trillion at the beginning of the year to $30.929 trillion at the end. (The fiscal year ends on September 30.) One way to lower the burden of that debt is to inflate it away, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing over the past year. The national debt is, by some measures, less of a burden on the economy at the end of the fiscal year than it was at the beginning.