Bonjour! Here’s your PolicySphere morning briefing! If you were forwarded this, here’s more about who we are and what we’re doing and, of course, don’t forget to sign up.
ICYMI: On Monday we published an exclusive interview with Edmund Burke Foundation Executive Director Saurabh Sharma going over the events of the NatCon Brussels conference last week, which the far left Brussels Mayor tried to shut down using political threats and police.
We are enjoying this interview series. As always, let us know what you think.
Here are some of our previous interviews: Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Anti-Monopoly activist and researcher Matt Stoller, and Tom Shakeley of Americans United For Life.
Meanwhile, here are some of your policy links, followed by our now-traditional Friday Essays:
#AISafety #HateCrimeHoaxes – From the “it’s happening” files: a black employee of a Baltimore public school used AI to create a fake recording of the school’s principal engaging in a racist rant to get him fired.
#BigTech #CancelCulture – Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is investigating Eventbrite and other tech platforms for deplatforming conservatives. More of this, please. Until there are clear rules on speech and tech platforms, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
#Immigration – The recently-passed spending package includes funds to expand immigrant detention spaces. The problem? As the National Immigration Center for Enforcement points out, ICE isn’t even using the space it already has, and detention numbers are down.
#Life – The abortion pill carries significant medical risks that aren’t discussed nearly enough.
#Trans – Luke Goodrich with constructive ideas on “stopping the transgender conveyor belt“–all the interventions that cause increasing transgender identification among young people.
#Labor – The Biden DoL published a new rule raising the salary threshold at which workers are exempted from overtime pay, which means many more workers will receive overtime pay for working more than 40 hours a week. Business groups will scream, but lots of people will see a higher paycheck. Could this be an election year? Here’s the press release.
#EVs #Environment #AmericanManufacturing – Ford just announced eye-watering EV losses: its EV unit sold only 10,000 cars in the first quarter of the year, and lost $1.3 billion, amounting to a loss of $130,000 per vehicle. Revenue for Ford’s EV business fell 84% from the same period last year. It seems that people tried EVs, but found out they didn’t like them. Concerning at a time when more and more governments are considering forcing people to buy them.
#Environment #Regulation – R Street’s Devin Hartman writes against the EPA’s new rules on CO2 emissions from power plants. We particularly appreciated the evaluation of the future prospects of so-called CCS, “carbon capture and storage”, a once-hyped method of keeping carbon from the atmosphere.
Friday Essays
In First Things, the writer Matthew Schmitz profiles Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and his vision of “religious populism.”
In The New Atlantis, Ted Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute writes against climate catastrophism.
In The Public Discourse, an interview of the author of Hannah’s Children, a fascinating and important look at women who are, as the subtitle puts it, “quietly defying the birth dearth”.
Also in The Public Discourse, EPPC’s Clare Morell reviews Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation.
“The name Francis X. Maier may not be well-known outside the inside circles of ecclesiastical life because he has worked diligently but effectively behind the scenes. […] Maier has written an excellent book, True Confessions: Voices of Faith from a Life in the Church, just released by Ignatius Press, that should rightfully make his name better known.” More here.
In First Things, Gary Saul Morson, Professor of the Arts and Humanities at Northwestern University, writes penetratingly about the deep connection between Russian literature and faith.
At his Substack The Honest Broker (which we highly recommend), climate scientist Roger Pielke Jr. engages in a fun and revealing thought experiment: “It’s the 1990s, and we’re looking at terrifying scenarios ahead for climate change in the 21st century. But time travelers have now arrived from the year 2024 to let us know whether things turned out better or worse than we fear. What do they say?” His answer here.
Chart of the Day
Axios poll: most Americans–and close to half of Democrats–support mass deportations of illegal aliens.
Meme of the Day
