“The Agriculture Department is cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from a program aimed at helping farmers buy and retain land, three people familiar with the decision confirmed to POLITICO on Tuesday. … Nonprofits, tribal governments and other organizations applied for the funding to address land access issues for underserved farmers — including access to capital, market expansions, succession planning and efforts to prevent land loss. The projects were especially targeted to address land access issues facing [b]lack farmers, immigrant farmers, [i]ndigenous farmers, veterans and other underrepresented groups. According to one of the cancellation letters shared with POLITICO, USDA determined that the program ‘involved discriminatory preferences based on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ as well as ‘wasteful spending.'” (03/24/26)
“The majority of states have Constitutional carry, and we find that there has been NO increase in crime. In fact, the opposite is true. Gun Control increases crime. More Gun Control equals more crime. Like it or not, carry permits, background checks, gun specific taxes and training requirements, all are Gun Control. All of these are Gov’t imposed attacks on firearms freedoms of people. Citizens or not, people are born with the RIGHT to keep and bear arms.” (03/24/26)
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Julia R Cartwright
“The US energy system should shift from a hodgepodge of politically favored technologies toward a market-driven portfolio that is cleaner, more reliable, and increasingly affordable.” (03/24/26)
“In a surprise move, OpenAI will shut down its Sora AI video app, just months after it was first launched. ‘We’re saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you,’ the company said in a statement. ‘What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.’ A source familiar with the matter tells The Hollywood Reporter that Disney is also exiting the deal it signed with OpenAI last year, in which it pledged to invest $1 billion in the company and agreed to license some of its characters for use in Sora.” (03/24/26)
“For too long, American populists on the left and right have treated globalism — the free flow of goods, capital, and people across borders — as a concession to corporate interests, a system to apologize for rather than promote. That defensiveness has become a trap: facing Trump’s assault on the principles of free and open trade, Democrats are pushing back, but on tactical grounds rather than making a full, principled case for free trade. Tariffs raise prices for everyone, reduce employment and output, and weaken the democratic alliances Democrats claim to cherish. In failing to make the principled case against tariffs, Democrats cede the language of economic openness to the very forces dismantling it.” (03/24/26)
“Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s hopes for a third term were further complicated on Tuesday, with her left-wing bloc winning the election yet failing to secure a majority. The bloc, which includes the Social Democrats, the center-right Venstre and Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s Moderates, took 84 seats in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament. The right secured 77 seats, official results showed. Rasmussen’s party became kingmaker with 14 seats, setting the stage for thorny negotiations as the winners strive to build a coalition government. … Her Social Democrat party had been bolstered with Frederiksen having rebuffed Trump’s threat to take control of Greenland, an island in the Arctic Ocean that is a semi-autonomous territory controlled by Denmark. But Tuesday’s vote represents the worst result for the Social Democrats since the start of the last century, sinking to 21.9%. That’s dramatic fall from the 27.5% they won in the last election in 2022.” (03/24/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Alexander William Salter & Bryan P Cutsinger
“Members of Gen Z are right to ask: What jobs will be left for them in the new AI world? After all, artificial intelligence already can draft reports, reconcile accounts, write code, and generate marketing copy in seconds—and it’s improving fast. But new technologies do not eliminate work. They change what kinds of work matter. AI excels at tasks that follow rules and patterns. Feed it enough data and a clear objective, and it performs quickly and cheaply. So, a better question for Gen Zers to ask is: What kind of education and training will hold its value when the tools we use keep changing?” (03/24/26)
