Source: EconLog
by Alex MacDonald & Tammy McCutchen
“Nowadays, it’s hard to read anything about workplace policy without running into ‘“algorithmic management.’ Companies, we’re told, are increasingly controlling workers through an array of digital ‘tricks.’ These companies record our keystrokes, track our locations, and even watch us through our webcams. We hear this same story in academic journals, government reports, and the popular press. In fact, the story has even made its way into federal regulations — specifically, in the U.S. Department of Labor’s current rule about independent contractors. Like the more popular accounts, this rule assumes that algorithmic management is pervasive. And it treats the practice as a form of ‘control.’ There’s only one problem: algorithmic management isn’t a real thing.” (05/21/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/algorithmic-management-monitoring-and-control
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“The United States on Wednesday removed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories who has harshly criticised Israel, following a court order. A notice on the Treasury Department’s website showed that it had removed a sanctions designation on Albanese that had blacklisted her globally, making it impossible for her to use major credit cards or carry out bank transactions. Albanese, who is Italian, has been a relentless critic of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians in her role as the UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.” (05/20/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260520-us-lifts-sanctions-francesca-albanese-un-rapporteur-on-palestinians
Source: Free the People
“Don’t Fall for Hantavirus Fearmongering | Guest: Dr. Mary Talley Bowden.” (05/20/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk04OlnHLP8
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead
“One way or another, the American taxpayers always get screwed by politicians eager to spend our hard-earned dollars on programs and projects that do little to improve our lives, safeguard our freedoms, or secure our future. Donald Trump — the billionaire trust-fund baby/reality TV showman who transformed himself into a populist champion of working-class Americans — has proven to be no different, and in many ways worse, than the politicians who came before him. Trump has given new meaning to government corruption, graft, grift, profiteering, self-dealing and pay-to-play politics.” (05/20/26)
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/we_the_victims_who_pays_when_the_government_weaponizes_its_power
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“I know, a lot of people are very excited about the primary defeat of U.S. Republican Thomas Massie (KY-4). I’m just not one of them. Not because I liked him, I honestly couldn’t care less about any politician and found him particularly annoying on quite a few issues, but because his defeat won’t make a single bit of difference in the grand scheme of things. No individual politician, especially in Congress, will. They are all temporary and don’t deserve your loyalty, ideas and ideals do. Massie was a reliable vote on most things for Republicans, but he started to get high on his own supply – seduced by the media coverage of his obsession with Jeffrey Epstein and the idea that there is a network of pervert monsters out there somewhere that he could help put away.” [editor’s note: He’s right that one congresscritter is unlikely to make a difference. And it’s so unusual for Derek Hunter to be right about ANYTHING that I considered it worth noting – TLK] (05/21/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/05/21/here-is-why-thomas-massies-loss-doesnt-matter-at-all-n2676431
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including gonorrhoea and syphilis have hit record levels in Europe, according to new data. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said both diseases had reached their highest levels in over 10 years in 2024. Gonorrhoea hit 106,331 cases – a 303% increase since 2015 – while syphilis more than doubled in the same period to 45,557. The health agency said ‘widening gaps in testing and prevention’ were partly behind the surge in transmission, and called for urgent action. ‘These infections can cause severe complications, such as chronic pain and infertility and, in the case of syphilis, problems with the heart or nervous system,’ said Bruno Ciancio, the head of the agency’s Directly Transmitted and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases unit. He said congenital syphilis cases – ‘where infections pass directly to newborns, leading to potentially lifelong complications’ – had nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024.” (05/21/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2pj07dr7lo
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Reversing Alzheimer’s and Dementia?” (05/20/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2762-reversing-alzheimers-and-dementia/
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“Price controls are one of the most studied policy interventions in economics, and the near-universal verdict among economists is that they backfire. The core problem is that prices are signals, not villains. Prices convey information about scarcity, cost of production, and consumer demand. When a government artificially suppresses a price below the market-clearing level, it does not eliminate the underlying cost pressures; it merely hides them while creating new distortions. The basic supply-and-demand mechanism explains clearly why shortages result. A price cap set below the market price simultaneously increases demand because more consumers want the now-cheaper product, and decreases supply; producers and retailers earn less, so they reduce output, stock less, or exit the market entirely.” (05/20/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/the-snps-john-swinney-intends-to-impose-price-controls-on-food
Source: Cato Institute
by Andrew Gillen
“One of the best parts of last year’s reconciliation bill was the introduction of an accountability rule called the Do No Harm rule that will cut off student loans for programs where students earn too little after graduation. The bar is very low. For undergraduate programs, graduates will only need to earn more than a comparable high school graduate who did not attend college, and for graduate programs, students need to earn more than those with a bachelor’s degree. Programs that fail to meet this benchmark for two out of three years would lose access to the federal student loan programs. Nevertheless, there are many programs that do not clear this very low bar.” (05/20/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/cosmetology-schools-want-rules-trimmed-back
Source: US News & World Report
“Australian populist party Pauline Hanson’s One Nation said it wanted to create a Norway-style sovereign wealth fund and for the government to take a share of offshore production licences in federal waters as it unveiled its energy policy at the Australian Energy Producers conference in Adelaide on Thursday. One Nation has surged in popularity this year, winning its first House of Representatives seat, and has backing from Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart, who recently donated a plane and hosted dinners for the party. … Her plan would see the federal government take a 30% stake in offshore licences, share development and decommissioning costs, and retain part of production for domestic use, including fertiliser and fuels.” (05/21/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-05-21/australian-far-right-party-proposes-norway-style-oil-fund-and-state-oil-company