“The United Nations has urged the international community to respond to what it called human rights violations by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government as it seeks to further consolidate power, according to a report published on Wednesday. Ortega, a former leftist rebel who initially came to power in 1979 and returned in 2007, has been extending his control by allowing his presidency to ‘coordinate’ judicial and legislative duties as well as expanding state control over media. The UN report accuses Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, who serves as co-president, of having ‘transformed the country into an authoritarian state where no independent institutions remain.’ The UN experts urged legal action against Nicaragua, highlighting human rights abuses in the Latin American country, which they said follow patterns that have been previously established as crimes against humanity.” (02/26/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kym Kent
“When I share with others that I have graduated four of my six homeschooled children so far, there’s often a pause, followed by a barrage of questions, from: ‘How did you do that?’ to ‘What did it look like after they graduated?’ Almost immediately, the discussion shifts to high school. While most believe elementary and even middle school are manageable, high school homeschooling is typically viewed as a Herculean effort that’s nearly impossible. At that point, one of two assumptions is usually formed. Either that the homeschool parent has a hidden superhero cape, or their kids are really not capable of functioning academically — and this ‘homeschooling thing’ is a way to get them a form of education, but not one that will enable them to accomplish much in the future.” (02/25/25)
“So having voted out the virtue-signallers, now the good people of America must suffer the vice-signallers? Take Steve Bannon’s salute at CPAC. We all know what he was up to. He was triggering the libs and titillating the Very Online right. It was a massive troll designed to get the CNN crowd fuming and the ironic fascists of X chuckling. So 77million US voters say a firm No to the eccentric ideologies of the faux-virtuous liberal elite, only to see them replaced by the eccentric antics of vice-flirting conservatives? Great. … there’s something more than cultural goading going on here. Bannon’s knowing ‘wave’ also speaks to a crisis of normalcy on sections of the American right. It sometimes feels as though the freaks of political correctness have been replaced by the freaks of political incorrectness.” (02/25/25)
“A Missouri woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge accusing her of concocting a brazen plot to defraud Elvis Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland mansion and property before a judge halted the mysterious foreclosure sale. … [Lisa Jeanine] Findley, of Kimberling City, falsely claimed Presley’s daughter borrowed $3.8 million from a bogus private lender and had pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan before her death in January 2023, prosecutors said when she was charged in August 2024. She then threatened to sell Graceland to the highest bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement, according to authorities. Findley posed as three different people allegedly involved with the fake lender, fabricated loan documents, and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing the auction of Graceland in May 2024, prosecutors said.” (02/25/25)
“For US citizens, the kind of population-level surveillance one typically associates with China is not an uncertain or abstract future threat. Although less advanced than what one might find in China, such surveillance programs are already here. Furthermore, they are growing ever more intrusive while our courts have yet to provide meaningful guidance on their constitutionality. Such were the sentiments expressed in a December telephone interview by Michael Soyfer, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm that describes itself as seeking to challenge abuses of government power and protect the constitutional rights of Americans.” (02/25/25)
“Days after Israel failed to release hundreds of Palestinian [hostages] in exchange for six hostages held in Gaza, the government has agreed to a new exchange, according to an Israeli source and Hamas, indicating the fragile ceasefire remains intact for now. The Egyptian-brokered agreement between Hamas and Israel will see the exchange of the final four bodies of hostages due to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal for the 620 Palestinian [hostages] that should have been freed last Saturday, according to the Israeli source. Among the [hostages] are 23 children and one woman.” (02/26/25)
“Just as there’s no constitutional requirement for the president or the White House to host, humor, and answer to journalists, there’s no constitutional requirement for the press to cover the president or the White House at all. Why don’t the major newspapers, television networks, etc. get together and set up the White House ‘press pool’ on their own terms instead of subjecting themselves to the president’s terms? They could rent, buy, or build a small studio/auditorium facility, handle their own journalist credentialing, and let the White House and the president know when they’ll be hosting briefings. The president and/or press secretary could show up or not. If they showed, maybe they’d get some coverage. If not, there’s always other news to report, right?” (02/25/25)
“Missouri has both criminal and civil penalties for parents who use an address outside their residence to enroll their children in a different school district. This means parents could face fines and even criminal charges just for trying to give their child a better education. But there’s a solution: strong open enrollment policies.” (02/25/25)
