“At least 930 people have died in Congo’s Ebola outbreak, the country’s Ministry of Health said Monday, with 37 new deaths recorded in a 24-hour span Friday into Saturday, one of the highest totals. The deaths were recorded out of the 2,344 cases confirmed as of Saturday, the health ministry said. The Ebola outbreak that was declared in eastern Congo on May 15 is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. The Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment.” (07/20/26)
“Fifty years ago, liberals were attacking what today is called the deep state—that is, the unelected members of the federal government. At the center of this liberal coalition was Idaho Sen. Frank Church, who in 1975 and 1976 headed high-profile hearings into the national security apparatus that had been created at the start of the Cold War in the late 1940s, but which seemed to be pursuing interests very different from what elected officials were telling voters.” (07/20/26)
“The economic case for data centers is indisputable: A single hyperscale facility brings in billions in capital investment, creates a slew of high-paying jobs from construction to engineering and ensures local governments are flush with tax revenue. Big Tech bogeymen such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta upgrade local infrastructure and create secondary economies, often in struggling areas. Long term, these companies offer self-sustaining economic activity that the magical ‘green’ industry never did or could.” (07/19/26)
“The Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that a Taylor Farms lettuce sample initially reported as positive for Cyclospora should be considered a false positive following an additional laboratory review. ‘Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,’ the agency said. The FDA said no product samples had produced a confirmed positive result for Cyclospora as of Sunday.” [editor’s note: I predict that FDA will eventually just announce what we already knew — explosive diarrhea is a frequent and long-known side effect of eating food from Taco Bell – TLK] (07/20/26)
“Perhaps the most telling aspect of Trump’s address wasn’t what he said. It was what he didn’t say. At no point did he identify a single state where vote totals were changed. He didn’t claim that a voting machine actually switched votes. He didn’t allege that tabulation reports were manipulated or that election databases were corrupted. He didn’t present evidence that any jurisdiction reported vote totals it knew to be false. He relied on the viewer to infer those claims without stating them explicitly. Instead, the speech relied on familiar patterns, such as discussions of foreign cyber capabilities, intelligence reporting, and potential vulnerabilities. Each of these was presented as proof that the election itself had been manipulated.” (07/19/26)
“India’s riot police baton-charged protesters in New Delhi as they tried to march to parliament on Monday, escalating a protest over irregularities in major examinations. Protesters ran for cover as police in blue riot gear charged at them near the Jantar Mantar protest site. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the irregularities, including question paper leaks and technical glitches.” (07/20/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder & Nicholas Jadwisienczak
“Republicans disheartened by growing fears of electoral losses at the federal level this fall can take some solace in evidence from a new, soon-to-be-released study that we coauthored for Unleash Prosperity, a group focused on promoting pro-growth policies. The graph below shows the results from that study, revealing that in this century economic growth has been substantially greater in the Republican Red states. The new study focuses on the more recent years 2020-2024, using modern statistical techniques to show that even after other factors impacting economic change—like climate, the proportion of the population working in manufacturing or producing oil, or the degree of urbanization—are taken into account, Republican-dominated states grew sharply faster than Democratic oriented ones.” (07/19/26)
