“Educators continue to debate a question that sounds philosophical but is actually quite practical: when a student earns a diploma, what exactly have they earned? Is it proof of real, transferable, labor-market-ready skills? Or is it a signal, a flag planted in the employer’s field of view that says this person showed up, tried hard, and turned things in on time? Most honest observers land somewhere in the middle. Yes, school teaches skills. And yes, the diploma itself also signals something beyond the skills taught. The degree is both product and receipt. New research throws a wrench into both sides of that supposed balance.” (03/31/26)
“In a positive twist, the Trump administration said it does not plan to block a Russian oil tanker from delivering 730,000 barrels of crude to Cuba, which has been suffering from acute fuel shortages since the U.S. imposed a de facto oil blockade on the island in late January. … On the one hand, the administration may be concerned about the dire humanitarian impacts of ongoing fuel shortages and a potential migratory crisis brewing just off U.S. shores in an election season. The island’s worsening crisis risks undermining U.S. moral standing and leverage in ongoing negotiations with Cuba, particularly if the country collapses before a deal can be reached. On the other hand, the U.S. may simply need to focus on other priorities.” (03/30/26)
“Get ready for the next Roe v. Wade — as a new Supreme Court case threatens to split the country, not over abortion, but over ‘birthright citizenship.’ Trump v. Barbara is before the court this week, and with it comes the very question of who is an American. On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order [pretending] that the children of illegal immigrants or temporary residents aren’t American citizens just by virtue of being born on American soil. People born here to at least one citizen parent are automatically citizens, and Trump’s order recognizes the children of lawful permanent residents as birthright citizens, too. But that’s not enough for those who insist the Constitution’s 14th Amendment establishes a radical definition of birthright citizenship.” [editor’s note: It didn’t “establish” anything — birthright citizenship was the case from the beginning of the US, except for slaves, and in England before that – TLK] (03/31/26)
“The New Democratic Party, which once championed the country’s unions, is now in the hands of a radicalised anti-Israel activist who wants to nationalise grocery sales and shut down oil production.” (03/30/26)
“Imagine you are engaging in the time-honored American tradition of criticizing your local government. You air your complaints on a website you’ve set up to report on city news — and then the city threatens you with legal action and potential jail time, all because some of your comments feature the city’s seal and logos. That’s what happened to Kyle L’Hommedieu and the local watchdog group he chairs, Take Out The Trash Committee of Cape Coral.” (03/30/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by William Harris
“On Feb. 16, students and faculty at the University of North Texas solemnly filed into the Art Building courtyard for a funeral. No person had passed, but principles had departed; the loss they mourned was their own right to speak out free from fear.” (03/30/26)
“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can’t be forced to deprive customers of Internet access on the basis of an unverified complaint about copyright violation. And can’t be held liable for refusing to kill a customer’s access. … Had the high court ruled otherwise, the consequences would have been dire.” (03/30/26)
“The threat of a city government shutdown loomed large in Chicago in December 2025 as the city faced an end-of-year deadline to close a projected $1.2 billion deficit. To counteract the impact of President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax law, Mayor Brandon Johnson had pitched a budget in October that would require some of the law’s biggest beneficiaries to pay more. His proposed payroll tax — on corporations with more than 1,000 employees — would, according to his administration, amount to less than 0.01% of the Trump tax cuts bestowed on companies like Google and Walmart. But a standoff ensued after a group of Chicago City Council alderpersons — led by Nicole Lee, a former United Airlines executive — announced they would refuse to cross a ’red line’: a new tax on the city’s largest corporations, including United. The group raised the specter of businesses fleeing Chicago in droves, despite a Chicago Sun-Times analysis casting doubt on this claim.” (03/31/26)
“Milton Friedman once famously stated that ‘inflation always and everywhere is a monetary phenomenon.’ Inflation results from an increase in the money supply and a decline in the real value of fiat currency relative to goods and services. Prices can increase for a variety of reasons unrelated to the money supply, but that is not inflation. While the Iran conflict is certainly going to cause government policy-fueled price increases, there is a technical difference between that and inflation. Military actions do not directly cause inflation; however, they can be enabled by inflation, given the government’s capacity to print money and expand the budget.” (03/30/26)
Source: The Heartland Institute
by Dalia Marciukaityte
“These days, most people assume that a central bank — in the United States that is the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) — is something that a country has to have. However, the declining purchasing power of our paper money makes more people realize that there is something very wrong with our monetary system, which is controlled by the Fed. Moreover, before the Fed was created in 1914, the United States prospered without experiencing prolonged recessions and depressions. Turns out that a central bank is not something that a country needs, but it is something that financially irresponsible governments and corrupt businesses desire.” (03/30/26)
