On April 27, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a “disinformation governance board.” As politicians, scholars, and journalists of various persuasions noted, such a board is more characteristic of Communist dictatorships than a constitutional democracy. On the other hand, in current conditions, the board should come as no surprise.
Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion last week dominated headlines. Presuming the deal goes through as expected, there is uncertainty about what Musk plans to change. There is a case for optimism; Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter provides the world with a fresh opportunity to consider how freedom of speech can flourish on a social media platform. How should it play out and what should Musk implement?
On a Monday morning in August 2011, I was suddenly summoned to a conference call. A fellow employee said my services were no longer required. I was then handed a packet, and in the style of William Holden in Network, told to vacate the premises by 1:30 p.m.
The Independent Institute sorrowfully announces that David J. Theroux, Independent’s Founder and President, has died after a brief illness. Mr. Theroux passed away in Oakland, California on Saturday, April 23 in the company of his loving family.
Back in January, with gasoline prices already on the rise, California governor Gavin Newsom outlined a plan to delay the automatic 5.6 percent hike in the gasoline excise tax due on July 1. “It’s a $523 million dollar gas tax holiday of sorts,” the governor explained, but now embattled Californians won’t be celebrating.
Getting pandemic unemployment benefits was easy money in 2020. Lockdowns by state and local governments shut down thousands of businesses, throwing millions out of work. Uncle Sam rode to their rescue with billions in unemployment benefits, doled out through state unemployment offices.
US district judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle has ruled that the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had exceeded its authority in extending an airline mask mandate until May 3. As the judge noted, the CDC improperly invoked the “good cause exception,” allowing the federal agency to avoid public notification and comment. The CDC also allowed mask exemptions for some groups and not others. The White House announced an appeal, and the loudest voice against the judge’s ruling was chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Over two years after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, it seems the end is quickly approaching. Unfortunately, the end of the pandemic appears to be the start of an endemic. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci has admitted, “we’ve only eradicated one infectious disease in man, and that’s smallpox. That’s not going to happen with this virus.”
Nearly two years after Covid-19 first reached the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci indicated what many medical professionals have long known, and policymakers have desperately tried to avoid: Covid-19 is likely endemic.
The UN and NATO showed that their leaders are more preoccupied with grandstanding and residual Cold War rivalries than seeing the Russo-Ukrainian conflict come to a close. The international community’s inability to negotiate with Putin highlights the eroding international order inherited from WWII. The United Nations was initially created to promote security and peace, and NATO was created to provide military security against the Soviet Union. But reliance on these international bodies does not bode well, nor are they especially accountable, even though their budgets come largely from US tax-payer money.
