“In my role as Co-chairperson and member of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, I have been participating in a training course regarding the GRADE methodology for public health decision-making. The acronym stands for Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation, and this methodology is intended to provide a structured, transparent framework to evaluate the quality (certainty) of evidence and the strength of recommendations derived from that evidence. … The GRADE approach assumes that, in the case of peer-reviewed clinical and epidemiological data (otherwise referred to as ‘evidence-based medicine’), individual studies will reflect various forms of bias (structural, intentional, or unintended), but when systematically analyzed as a collection of information, these biases will either cancel each other out or (if bias is detected) can be statistically compensated for. What could possibly go wrong? Clearly, something did.” (05/05/26)
“Earlier this month, the United States Department of Education proposed a regulatory framework to hold postsecondary educational institutions accountable for their students’ labor market and earnings outcomes. Under the proposed rule, students risk losing eligibility for federal loans and, in some cases, Pell Grants, if they are enrolled in undergraduate programs whose graduates’ earnings fail to exceed those of a typical high school graduate. Graduate programs face similar consequences should their graduates earn less than the average bachelor’s degree holder. Though the benchmarks are modest, in the sense that most college programs will meet these criteria, some will not. And the consequences for college programs are severe, as most universities rely heavily on federally subsidized tuition dollars.” (05/05/26)
“The Gulf states have tried very hard to stay out of the war on Iran. But they are home to one of the largest American forward military deployments in the world, a network of 13 U.S. bases and 40,000 U.S. troops that has made the war possible. Kuwait hosts more U.S. bases than any other country in the region. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. Qatar hosts Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military facility in the region and a headquarters for U.S. Central Command. In the UAE is Al Dhafra Air Base, from which Washington coordinates intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Saudi Arabia is home to the Prince Sultan Air Base.” (05/05/26)
“The man just won’t leave the stage. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell announced last week that he’s going to remain on the Federal Reserve Board until 2028, even as he, by law, surrenders his chairmanship. The announcement came even after President Donald Trump agreed to drop his unwise lawsuit against Powell for funding a $2 billion new Taj Mahal building down the street from the White House. Powell will be the first Fed chair to stay on the Fed’s Board of Directors in 50 years. This isn’t the way it’s done. It’s bad form. Only once did he come within spitting distance of his inflation target. February 2021 was the only month in his whole tenure when inflation hit the range of 1.8 percent to 2.2 percent. He’s retiring with a batting average of .011.” (05/05/26)
“The crowning irony of our times is that after the 20th Century revealed the essential futility and moral and economic bankruptcy of totalitarian socialism, most western governments have cheerfully embraced it.” (05/05/26)
“On April 4, 2026, our partners at the Language of Liberty Institute (LLI) hosted a Liberty Chit-Chat in Butwal, Rupandehi, on a question that sits at the heart of every modern economy: where should the market end and the government begin? Held at K6 Pizza and Bar from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the three-and-a-half-hour discussion brought together twenty-nine participants from across Lumbini Province for an open, structured conversation on the role of state intervention in a free market economy.” (05/05/26)
“Two months after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, a tense standoff prevails. There is no active warfare, but no signs of a diplomatic breakthrough either. The war is a culmination of a 47-year trajectory which set the U.S. and Iran on this collision course. Mutual hostility was the norm since 1979, and even rare openings, such as the cooperation in a post-Taliban Afghanistan in 2002, or a landmark nuclear pact in 2015, failed to change that path to a more functional relationship.” (05/05/26)
“Strictly speaking, there can be no such thing as a positive legal right to revolution — certainly not for citizens of the United States. Though there have been various insurrections against federal authority throughout our history, only one came close to succeeding: the Southern Rebellion of 1861–65. Even as states were seceding to join the revolutionary Confederacy, Abraham Lincoln insisted that their actions were constitutionally null and void. … But while revolution may never be strictly legal, as Lincoln acknowledged, it may be necessary in order to preserve liberty and even what we might call the ‘natural law.'” [editor’s note: The southern secession was unambiguously “legal” by both omission (the Articles of Confederation declared themselves perpetual, the Constitution didn’t) and inclusion (under the 10th Amendment the power to dissolve the “union” clearly remains with the states – TLK] (05/05/26)
Source: Common Dreams
by Martin Burns & Mary Liz Burns
“At a campaign-like rally at The Villages, a retirement community near Orlando, Florida, President Donald Trump continued his campaign of deception about his record on Social Security. As he has many times in the last several months, Trump falsely claimed that his ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ eliminated taxes. This time however Trump took his campaign of deception to a higher level. The background for Trump included the words ‘Golden Age for Your Golden Years’ and ‘No Tax on Social Security’. Unfortunately, many in the mainstream media simply ignore Trump’s continued falsehoods on Social Security. Let’s look at the facts. The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ did not eliminate taxes on Social Security. Indeed, the legislative process, ‘reconciliation,’ which the Republicans used to pass the legislation, prohibits these types of changes in Social Security.” (05/05/26)
