Source: Law & Liberty
by Daniel J Mahoney
“On the one hand, left-wing academics and the journalists who endlessly recirculate cliches and terrible simplifications see in Strauss-influenced scholars an elitist and anti-democratic cabal; those political theorists, not few in number, who specialize in reducing thinkers to the commonplace categories of their age mock the Straussian claim that the thought that informs the Great Books has transhistorical significance. On the other hand, some conservatives and people of faith see in Strauss’s approach a barely concealed Averroism that reduces religion to a useful tool for encouraging self-restraint among ordinary souls and a mere simulacra of deeper philosophical truths. … most critics of Strauss and Straussians assume a uniformity in the Straussian world that simply doesn’t exist and never really has.” (04/16/24)
https://lawliberty.org/features/leo-strauss-and-the-promise-of-political-philosophy/
Source: The American Prospect
by Jordan Haedtler & Kenny Stancil
“Climate change doesn’t need to reach civilizational collapse levels before its economic and political ramifications are acutely felt. Even now, as more intense impacts begin to manifest, the public is feeling the pain in one key way: Catastrophic climate disasters have driven insurance markets into an active state of meltdown, making a core aspect of homeownership less attainable. President Biden seemed to appreciate the economic dimensions of climate change when he directed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and the other members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to begin studying climate-related risks to the financial system early in his term. As FSOC’s climate risk supervision framework has come into place, regulators have flagged insurance markets as a key driver.” (04/16/24)
https://prospect.org/economy/2024-04-16-democrats-homeowners-insurance-policy/
Source: Associated Press
“Stung by paying billions of dollars for settlements and trials, chemical giant Bayer has been lobbying lawmakers in three states to pass bills providing it a legal shield from lawsuits that claim its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Nearly identical bills introduced in Iowa, Missouri and Idaho this year — with wording supplied by Bayer — would protect pesticide companies from claims they failed to warn that their product causes cancer, if their labels otherwise complied with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations. But legal experts warn the legislation could have broader consequences — extending to any product liability claim or, in Iowa’s case, providing immunity from lawsuits of any kind. Critics say it could spread nationwide.” (04/16/24)
https://apnews.com/article/bayer-legislation-glyphosate-roundup-lawsuits-cancer-warning-4fa2e6662479f3e60a409ce4439a40ed
Source: Show-Me Institute
“The four-day school week (4DSW) has become increasingly popular in Missouri in recent years. As of fall 2023, 33 percent of all Missouri traditional public school districts have adopted this schedule. But how much do we know about its impact on student achievement, district finances, teacher recruitment and retention, or parental satisfaction? The short answer is: not as much as you might expect.” (04/16/24)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/accountability/watch-the-rise-of-the-four-day-school-week-in-missouri/
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Peter C Gotzsche
“Overtreatment with drugs kills many people, and the death rate is increasing. It is therefore strange that we have allowed this long-lasting drug pandemic to continue, and even more so because most of the drug deaths are easily preventable.” (04/16/24)
https://brownstone.org/articles/prescription-drugs-are-the-leading-cause-of-death/
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a group of Israeli [squatters] storm a Palestinian village and, captured on CCTV, a masked man sets fire to a car parked in a garage, under the watch of at least three Israeli soldiers. The incident was part of a rampage by Israeli [squatters] that, according to local officials, killed four Palestinians over four days. The violence was triggered by the disappearance of 14-year-old Binyamin Ahimeir, who went missing on Friday after leaving his [squatter] outpost to herd sheep near the Palestinian village of Mughayir, in the Ramallah area. His body was found a day later, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said he had been killed in a ‘terrorist attack.'” (04/16/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68830552
Source: spiked
by Christopher Snowdon
“Today, MPs will vote on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The result is a foregone conclusion since Labour has promised to support it and their members will comfortably outnumber the handful of Conservative MPs who didn’t get into politics to ban things. The flagship policy in the bill is a ban on anyone born after 2008 from ever legally buying a tobacco product. This will gradually extend the war on drugs to include tobacco, but nearly everybody in Westminster seems to be relaxed about that. In an insult to the public’s intelligence that diminishes us all, the latest health secretary, Victoria Atkins, has claimed that Winston Churchill would approve of his party banning cigars (Churchill’s grandson disagrees).” (04/16/24)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/04/16/why-is-the-party-of-winston-churchill-banning-smoking/
Source: Crooked Media
“The People vs Donald Trump.” (04/15/24)
https://stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/9aa1e238-cbed-4305-9808-c9228fc6dd4f/episodes/5dd24908-9857-4535-9a18-b9f16070215e/audio/128/default.mp3
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Star Trek may have adversely affected American politics. Its techno-communist utopian militarism was one thing, its attitude towards engineering? Perhaps worse. In how many episodes did Captain Kirk demand that Scotty push the warp drives further, or decrease the time required for a task — arbitrarily according to his need, not actual possibility? And, because television: presto, it was done; just in time for the finale! We see that in the push for electric vehicles (EVs).” (04/15/24)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2024/04/15/electric-class-warfare/
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“This weekend, I wrote a column on the continuing controversy at NPR and the bias detailed in a recent bombshell essay by respected editor Uri Berliner. The company has long been criticized for its partisan coverage, including running debunked stories. Now NPR CEO Katherine Maher has responded and appeared to confirm that the publicly supported media company has no intention of bringing greater balance to its coverage or editorial staff. Berliner detailed the complete exclusion of any Republicans among the editors of NPR’s Washington office and various examples of raw bias in favor of Democratic narratives and claims. Maher responded to none of these specific points in substance. Instead, she attacks Berliner as ‘profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning’ to his colleagues by calling out the company for its political bias.” (04/16/24)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/npr-ceo-slams-editor-exposed-bias-truth-profoundly-disrespectful
