If you don’t visit Somewhat Reasonable and the Heartlander digital magazine every day, you’re missing out on some of the best news and commentary on liberty and free markets you can find. But worry not, freedom lovers! The Heartland Weekly Email is here for you every Friday with a highlight show. Subscribe to the email today, and read this week’s edition below.
LeftExposed.org: DeSmogBlog Profile
DeSmogBlog is a climate-alarmist smear site founded by a scientifically unqualified PR man, James Hoggan, and funded by a convicted felon, the notorious money-launderer John Lefebvre. The site’s mission is to shame, silence, and criminally penalize climate realists. DeSmogBlog was also instrumental in the 2012 “Fakegate” scandal—the theft and publication of internal documents of The Heartland Institute by Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute. Heartland’s Ron Arnold has written an exhaustively researched profile of DeSmogBlog that pulls the curtain back on the organization in a way that’s unlike anything that’s been done before.READ MORE
Clinton’s Awful Plan to Socialize College
Justin Haskins, New York Post
Hillary Clinton’s college-tuition plan is perfectly in line with her general economic outlook. That means it would move the country even closer to European-style socialism by raising taxes, punishing businesses that move overseas and, perhaps most disastrous of all, planning a massive government takeover of much of U.S. higher education. Her plan is more than just a little reckless; it would become, like ObamaCare, an absolute disaster. READ MORE
Featured Podcast: Lennie Jarratt: Homeschooler Gymnast Simone Biles
U.S. gymnast Simone Biles recently captured the attention of the world with her stunning performance at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Fewer people, however, know how Biles benefitted from being homeschooled in her youth. Lennie Jarratt, project manager for education transformation at The Heartland Institute, joins School Reform News Managing Editor Teresa Mull to talk about the common misconceptions with homeschooling and his personal experiences with this highly personalized teaching system that helped to make Biles the outstanding young woman she is today. LISTEN TO MORE
Coming to Heartland This Wednesday: A Global Warming Debate!
Who says the debate about global warming is over? Not us! On Wednesday, August 31, Science Director Jay Lehr will square off against Scott Denning, atmospheric science professor at Colorado State University, in a global warming debate of epic proportions. The event will be held in the Andrew Breitbart Freedom Center at The Heartland Institute’s headquarters in Arlington Heights, Illinois. This year is the 10th anniversary of the release of Al Gore’s controversial Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Dr. Lehr and Dr. Denning will reexamine the film and debate its primary claim: Humans are the primary cause behind global climate change, which the movie says is an imminent and catastrophic environmental disaster. If you can’t join us in Arlington Heights for this special event, you can watch the full event live on our YouTube page. READ MORE
Come See P.J. O’Rourke at The Heartland Institute’s 32nd Anniversary Benefit Dinner!
Time is running out to secure your spot at Heartland’s 32nd Anniversary Benefit Dinner, which features the always-hilarious and informative P.J. O’Rourke. The event will be held on Thursday, September 15, at The Cotillion, a fine banquet hall in Palatine, Illinois. O’Rourke promises to deliver an incisive and funny address about this most-unusual presidential election, as well as the state of politics and culture in America today. We’re also honored to award this year’s Heartland Liberty Prize to Morton Blackwell, founder and president of The Leadership Institute. Seats are filling up fast, so don’t hesitate. Reserve your table or tickets today! READ MORE
Don’t Be Afraid of Bill McKibben
Isaac Orr, Climate Change Weekly
Bill McKibben, founder of the notorious far-left environmental organization 350.org, is trying to spread fear yet again with his new article, titled “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry.” He argues fracking releases methane in such high quantities that humans’ use of natural gas could cause greater warming than many other so-called dangerous energy sources, such as coal. Fortunately, McKibben is wrong, as he often is. Heartland Institute Research Fellow Isaac Orr, “the Fracking Guy,” explains why in the latest edition of Climate Change Weekly. READ MORE
Policy Diagnosis: A Telemedicine Pioneer and the New Health Frontier
Michael Hamilton, Health Care News
What is telemedicine? How fast is it growing? And how can policymakers clear hurdles to using modern technology to deliver better health care? Health Care News Managing Editor Michael Hamilton finds out in a Q&A with Dr. Jeffrey English, director of clinical research at the MS Center of Atlanta and former president of the Georgia chapter of Docs4PatientCare. At the time the interview was conducted, by the way, Dr. English was on call, serving patients in six states by using telemedicine. READ MORE
Bonus Podcast: Sam Batkins: Obama Has Imposed 600+ Major Regulations
The Obama administration has broken a new record! Unfortunately, the record comes at the expense of the U.S. economy. The administration has issued more than 600 major regulations in roughly 7.5 years, for a combined economic burden of at least $743 billion. Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the American Action Forum, joins the Heartland Daily Podcast to talk about the burdensome regulations and how they will impact every American. LISTEN TO MORE
Talking Vaping with Faune Riggins of KZIM-KSIM
Lindsey Stroud, Somewhat Reasonable
Heartland Institute Government Relations Coordinator Lindsey Stroud joins Faune Riggin on KZIM-AM to talk about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) war on e-cigarettes and vaping. The majority of these relatively new products, which have helped many quit traditional tobacco cigarettes, are going to be regulated out of existence due to FDA’s new “deeming” rules. These new regulations will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the public health.LISTEN TO MORE
Renewable Power Mandates Are Too Costly
Tim Benson, Heartland Research & Commentary
A new study by the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity examines the impacts of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) across a dozen states. These mandates, which require states to obtain a specified percentage of energy from renewable sources, have major costs and few benefits. Across the 12 states included in the study, more than 750,000 jobs will be lost between now and 2040. The mandates will also cost these states more than $100 million during the same period. READ MORE
Help Us Stop Wikipedia’s Lies!
Joseph L. Bast, Somewhat Reasonable
Have you visited Heartland’s Wikipedia page recently? The good news is that it is more complete than it was just a couple months ago, after leftists took it over and trashed it. Most of the new information is accurate and unbiased. But the lies and libel about our positions on smoking and climate change remain. Other conservative and free-market sites suffer, too. Wikipedia refuses to make many of the changes we request and deletes and reverses the changes made by others. We need your help! READ MORE
Donald Kendal is a graphic designer for The Heartland Institute, a research fellow for Heartland’s Socialism Research Center, and the host of Heartland’s In the Tank Podcast and Stopping Socialism TV.
