Education for Virtue and Liberty

Source: Law & Liberty
by Aaron Alexander Zubia

“In Observations upon Liberal Education, Turnbull delivered ‘the substance of all that hath been said [on the subject of education] by the ancients or moderns’ — including Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Locke, Milton, and Rollin. Turnbull borrowed freely from these authors. He described education as the French historian Charles Rollin did, as ‘the art of fashioning the heart and mind.’ Although he recommended the Socratic method — that is, for-and-against argumentation — as the best way to teach, he did not think the teacher’s role was to remain ‘neutral’ about content. He stated plainly that education should be oriented toward the ‘true philosophy,’ which includes ‘just and full conceptions of human duty, dignity, and happiness.’ What makes Turnbull’s educational program liberal is that it enables the student to develop mastery over passions and appetites. This is a far cry from what we think of as ‘liberal’ today.” (03/16/26)

https://lawliberty.org/classic/education-for-virtue-and-liberty/

Thomas L. Knapp

Overturning outlandish SCOTUS ruling the only way to fix education

Source: Fox News
by Corey DeAngelis

“Tennessee lawmakers have taken a bold stand against the misuse of taxpayer dollars in public education. On March 10, House Bill 793 advanced out of a full committee with a 15-9 vote, divided mostly along party lines, with Republicans in favor and all seven Democrats opposed. The proposal is scheduled to be heard on the House floor on March 16. The measure now requires public and charter school officials to verify students’ immigration status at enrollment and report the aggregate results to the state. The proposal originally empowered school officials to deny enrollment to students who could not prove lawful [sic] presence in the United States or to charge their families tuition.” [editor’s note: If you doubted that DeAngelis’s fake “school choice” advocacy was about anything and everything but freedom, now you know for sure – TLK] (03/16/26)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/overturning-outlandish-supreme-court-ruling-only-way-fix-education

Steve Trinward

UK: Regime to raise steel tariffs to 50 percent in new sector strategy this week

Source: Politico

“Trade Secretary Peter Kyle is expected to announce the U.K.’s steel strategy at Tata Steel UK’s mill in Port Talbot on Thursday. The strategy will set out new protections for Britain’s steel sector, slashing quotas on imports of many products from overseas while raising duties outside those caps to 50 percent, two people familiar with the announcement told POLITICO. … British officials have told both U.K. steel producers and downstream importers, who use steel in everything from construction to automotive manufacturing, to expect a 50 percent duty outside of new quotas in a move ‘likely to be similar to the EU,’ said a second industry figure.” (03/16/26)

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-raise-steel-tariffs-to-50-percent-sector-strategy-tata-port-talbot-kyle

Thomas L. Knapp

When Hegseth Says “Lethality” He’s Talking About Killing Iranian School Girls

Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker

“I’m going to give our ‘Secretary of War’ a little credit. I will assume that even someone as openly bloodthirsty as Hegseth would not deliberately blow up a school building filled with little girls. But this tragic accident that led to the death of at least 165 Iranian girls between the ages of 7 and 12 was the direct result of Hegseth’s policy. The main point of the ‘woke’ rules of engagement that Hegseth has constantly derided, and told the military to ignore, is to prevent tragic accidents like the bombing of a girls’ school in the middle of the day. The rules are designed to try to minimize civilian casualties. This means reviewing designated bombing sites to make sure they are, in fact, military targets.” (03/16/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/16/when-hegseth-says-lethality-hes-talking-about-killing-iranian-school-girls/

Thomas L. Knapp

Cuba Libre: Rubio’s Big Bet on Regime Change in Havana

Source: Washington Monthly
by Markos Kounalakis

“Without charismatic Castro and Russian/Venezuelan support, and with sky-high oil prices, the communist regime is brittle. But as the Cuban-born secretary of state discovers in Iran, breaking things is the easy part.” (03/16/26)

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/03/16/cuba-libre-rubios-big-bet-on-regime-change-in-havana/

Thomas L. Knapp

Madagascar: Randrianirina names anticorruption chief as PM days after cabinet dissolved

Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]

“Madagascar’s President Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, has appointed the country’s anticorruption chief as prime minister, barely a week after dissolving the cabinet. The presidency said on Sunday that Mamitiana Rajaonarison, a former senior gendarmerie officer and career civil administrator, would head the new government. … Randrianirina dismissed Prime Minister Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo and all other cabinet ministers last Monday, offering no explanation for the move.” (03/16/26)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/16/madagascar-names-anticorruption-chief-as-pm-days-after-cabinet-dissolved

Thomas L. Knapp

Weapons makers, foreign states lavish $32 million on US think tanks

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Nick Cleveland-Stout & Ben Freeman

“In 2024, top think tanks received over $25 million from foreign governments and $7 million from Pentagon contractors, according to the most recently available donor rolls. This figure is a conservative estimate, as about 40% of think tanks do not disclose any donors at all. These findings come from our newly updated Think Tank Funding Tracker, which now includes the top 75 foreign policy think tanks in the U.S. and tracks all of the foreign government, U.S. government, and Pentagon contractor money flowing to them. The top Pentagon contractor donor was Northrop Grumman, which gave over $1.1 million to think tanks in 2024. These same think tanks routinely promote ambitious new weaponry which benefit their donors.” (03/16/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/think-tank-funding-tracker/

Thomas L. Knapp