“Long championed as a leader in adopting digital technology, Sweden is set to ban mobile phones in schools beginning in the fall for the next academic year as part of a broad, international reversal on the use of screens in classrooms. Since 2023, the Scandinavian country’s center-right coalition government has pursued a policy prioritizing more reading time and less screen time, particularly among preschool students, by favoring books and other traditional learning tools.” [editor’s note: The story hints, but doesn’t say, that mobile phones will NOT be banned in schools generally … just for students. Teachers and administrators will likely still be allowed to doomscroll to their hearts’ content – TLK] (06/09/26)
Source: Niskanen Center
by Lawson Mansell & Jonathan Wolfson
“Nearly 15 million Californians live in communities with too few primary care doctors. In many communities, patients face long waits for appointments, struggle to find a physician accepting new patients, or must travel significant distances for routine care. The shortage is especially acute in rural communities, the Inland Empire, and the San Joaquin Valley, where access to healthcare often depends on a patient’s ZIP code rather than their medical needs. The California Senate now has an opportunity to address part of that challenge.” (06/09/26)
“Vice President JD Vance is pressing federal prosecutors to investigate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison over allegations they failed to stop widespread social services fraud, amplifying concerns the White House will use a new Justice Department division to target political rivals. Vance, who has been tapped to lead the Republican Trump administration’s anti-fraud efforts as he seeks to raise his political profile as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, cited in a letter to the Justice Department a report from the Republican-led House Oversight Committee that alleges Walz and Ellison were aware of pervasive misuse of government programs for years and let it flourish.” (06/09/26)
“I’m joined by Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos today. We talk about the word ‘democracy’ and how it has become a magical incantation to lead gullible voters into captivity.” (06/09/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
“When Santana Cruz graduates from high school this spring, she will have over 100 college credits and two associate degrees. A public school student in Bristol, Virginia, that sits along the Tennessee border, Cruz began accumulating college credits as a 14-year-old freshman when she took her first College-Level Examination Program or CLEP exam. The program enables students of any age to demonstrate mastery in 34 subject areas, ranging from American government to world languages.” (06/09/26)
“Apple has said it would not ship its overhauled AI assistant on its devices in the EU, pinning the holdout squarely on Europe’s Big Tech market dominance rules. The iPhone maker on Monday announced its redesigned AI-enabled assistant, branded Siri AI, at its developer conference in Cupertino, California. Shortly afterwards, Apple confirmed that EU users will not get Siri AI on iPhones and iPads when its latest update ships this fall, with no timeline for when or whether that changes. … ‘We’re deeply disappointed that our EU users won’t have Siri AI on iPhone or iPad,’ said Craig Federighi, Apple’s software engineering chief, adding that the company hopes to bring it to the bloc eventually and will keep engaging with regulators. It’s the second time that Apple has held AI features back from the EU over the DMA, after withholding the original Apple Intelligence suite at its 2024 launch.” (06/09/26)
“I am not going to get into some of these more recent twists and turns, but I do want to shatter the mythos that the word ‘non-profit’ is somehow equivalent to ‘charitable’ or ‘well-intentioned.’ I know of many non-profits that do good work and for whom we should be grateful, but many many more do very little that is positive and are able to draft off the reputations of the ones who do. I want to describe what I call the original non-profit abuse, one that goes back to the very beginnings of the income tax system. I went to a private school in the 70’s and an Ivy League University in the 80’s and have seen what I am about to describe many times with my own eyes.” (06/09/26)
“The case of a young child at Texas Children’s Hospital following a near-drowning incident has reignited a debate that medicine has struggled with for more than half a century. According to multiple media reports, the family sought judicial intervention to obtain additional time, explore transfer options, and investigate alternative therapeutic approaches before any final determination regarding brain death would foreclose those possibilities. As so often happens in the modern United States of America, the story quickly moved beyond the walls of the hospital. Lawyers became involved. … this is not an argument against brain death. Nor is it an attempt to overturn decades of neurological science. The neurological criteria for death emerged from legitimate clinical challenges and remain accepted by most physicians, hospitals, and courts. Rather, this is a reflection on what happens when medicine becomes so confident in its conclusions that it stops listening to those most affected by them.” (06/09/26)
