The Lighthouse®
As the long year of 2021 finally came to a close, American Leftists found themselves privately acknowledging, but unable to utter, a number of inconvenient truths. Like: the free cash you get from the government is the very reason you can’t afford anything. Also: a crime wave with no criminals is impossible. And: his birth certificate says he’s 78, but Biden is, at best, 95. As 2022 advances, it will become impossible to hide these facts.
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By Jayanta Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff (The Epoch Times)
The Great Barrington Declaration was based on the one necessary fact about COVID: the old have a more than thousand-fold higher risk of death than our youth. Also at risk? The immune-compromised. No need for lockdowns, then; and our schools should have stayed open. Disagreeing, Francis Collins (Director, NIH) and Anthony Fauci (Director, NIAID) secretly attempted a “takedown” of the Declaration. It was authored, they said, by “three fringe epidemiologists.” But since when are Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford “fringe”? And by what possible standard can we say Collins’s and Fauci’s measures have proven beneficial?
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By Stephen P. Halbrook (America’s 1st Freedom)
On November 3, 2021, the highly anticipated oral arguments in the landmark case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen took place before the U.S. Supreme Court—and the gun-control advocates can’t be happy. New York is trying to limit the exercise of the Second Amendment to “atypical people” approved by the government. But, as many of the Justices wanted to know, how can a constitutional right be exercised by too many people?
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By Richard K. Vedder (Forbes)
How has higher education changed over the past six decades? It’s not pretty. Real teaching, particularly by tenured faculty, is rare. We also expect less of our college kids but reward them more (a.k.a. grade inflation). At the big universities, at which most Americans matriculate, athletics, not academics, dominate the imagination and therefore university budgets. And then, thanks to the distorting influence of the federal government, there is the student-loan catastrophe. What is to be done?
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Samuel R. Staley (Washington Times)
Steven Spielberg’s recent reprise of the 1961 film, West Side Story, is a cinematic masterpiece. Why, then, is it flopping? For “woke” reasons, Spielberg chose to not provide subtitles when the Puerto Rican characters speak Spanish. The film, as a result, is inaccessible to just those English-only persons (read: most of the country) Spielberg presumably wants to reach with the main message (the tragic consequences of irrational prejudice).
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By Gary M. Galles (AIER)
Packing the Supreme Court, not on anyone’s front burner when Barack Obama was president, sharply moved in that direction after Donald Trump was elected. Now with Joe Biden facing a more strict-constructionist Court unlikely to rubber-stamp his legislative proposals, but likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, we’re back at it. Yet a Court newly stuffed with partisan judges would make it more political, effectively wrecking the separation of powers. Whither our constitutional republic, then?
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The Lighthouse® is the weekly email newsletter of the Independent Institute.
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Volume 25, Issue 1: January 5, 2022
Victor Davis Hanson (American Greatness)
As the long year of 2021 finally came to a close, American Leftists found themselves privately acknowledging, but unable to utter, a number of inconvenient truths. Like: the free cash you get from the government is the very reason you can’t afford anything. Also: a crime wave with no criminals is impossible. And: his birth certificate says he’s 78, but Biden is, at best, 95. As 2022 advances, it will become impossible to hide these facts.
READ MORE »
By Jayanta Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff (The Epoch Times)
The Great Barrington Declaration was based on the one necessary fact about COVID: the old have a more than thousand-fold higher risk of death than our youth. Also at risk? The immune-compromised. No need for lockdowns, then; and our schools should have stayed open. Disagreeing, Francis Collins (Director, NIH) and Anthony Fauci (Director, NIAID) secretly attempted a “takedown” of the Declaration. It was authored, they said, by “three fringe epidemiologists.” But since when are Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford “fringe”? And by what possible standard can we say Collins’s and Fauci’s measures have proven beneficial?
READ MORE »
Crisis and Leviathan
Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (25th Anniversary Edition)
Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (25th Anniversary Edition)
By Robert Higgs
By Stephen P. Halbrook (America’s 1st Freedom)
On November 3, 2021, the highly anticipated oral arguments in the landmark case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen took place before the U.S. Supreme Court—and the gun-control advocates can’t be happy. New York is trying to limit the exercise of the Second Amendment to “atypical people” approved by the government. But, as many of the Justices wanted to know, how can a constitutional right be exercised by too many people?
READ MORE »
The Right to Bear Arms
A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?
A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?
By Stephen P. Halbrook
By Richard K. Vedder (Forbes)
How has higher education changed over the past six decades? It’s not pretty. Real teaching, particularly by tenured faculty, is rare. We also expect less of our college kids but reward them more (a.k.a. grade inflation). At the big universities, at which most Americans matriculate, athletics, not academics, dominate the imagination and therefore university budgets. And then, thanks to the distorting influence of the federal government, there is the student-loan catastrophe. What is to be done?
READ MORE »
Samuel R. Staley (Washington Times)
Steven Spielberg’s recent reprise of the 1961 film, West Side Story, is a cinematic masterpiece. Why, then, is it flopping? For “woke” reasons, Spielberg chose to not provide subtitles when the Puerto Rican characters speak Spanish. The film, as a result, is inaccessible to just those English-only persons (read: most of the country) Spielberg presumably wants to reach with the main message (the tragic consequences of irrational prejudice).
READ MORE »
By Gary M. Galles (AIER)
Packing the Supreme Court, not on anyone’s front burner when Barack Obama was president, sharply moved in that direction after Donald Trump was elected. Now with Joe Biden facing a more strict-constructionist Court unlikely to rubber-stamp his legislative proposals, but likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, we’re back at it. Yet a Court newly stuffed with partisan judges would make it more political, effectively wrecking the separation of powers. Whither our constitutional republic, then?
READ MORE »
Crossroads for Liberty
Recovering the Anti-Federalist Values of America’s First Constitution
Recovering the Anti-Federalist Values of America’s First Constitution
By William J. Watkins, Jr.
The Beacon: New Blog Posts
- Remembering Desmond M. Tutu, by Mary L. G. Theroux
Catalyst: New Articles
- How to Make Carshare More Accessible, by Scott Beyer
- Will America Get Private Subways (Again)?, by Scott Beyer
- The Case for Transit Vouchers, by Scott Beyer
