Heartland Weekly – Wikipedia Is Broken, Biased, and Corrupt

Published October 21, 2016

If you don’t visit Freedom Pub 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: George Soros Profile
Multi-billionaire George Soros (born August 12, 1930) is one of the world’s largest donors to radical left-wing nonprofit organizations and politicians worldwide. Soros has given hundreds of millions of dollars to nearly 5,000 liberal and ultra-left organizations campaigning for a more powerful role in international affairs for the United Nations, population control, socialism, and the defeat of Republicans and election of Democrats in the U.S. READ MORE

 

Changed Conditions May Justify Term Limits
Rob Natelson, Detroit News
The Articles of Confederation, the document governing the United States between 1781 and 1789, restricted members of Congress to three years of service out of every six, but when drafting the Constitution, the framers decided to eliminate term limits. Were the framers correct to omit them? Or are modern advocates correct to seek them? Answer: The framers were right for their times, and modern advocates are right for ours. READ MORE
 

Wikipedia: Broken, Biased, and Corrupt
Visit Heartland’s new page dedicated to exposing Wikipedia’s dishonesty, bias, and corruption, at heartland.org/wikipedia, and learn how you can help bring much-needed fairness and accuracy to the broken “free encyclopedia.” Regular readers of this newsletter know Wikipedia allowed left-wing advocates to hijack The Heartland Institute’s profile, remove objective descriptions of our programs and publications, and replace them with lies, errors, and outright libelous claims. We are fighting back, and we hope you will join the cause. READ MORE

Heartland Daily Podcast – Mark Block and Linda Hansen: Bringing Vapers Together
Government Relations Coordinator Lindsey Stroud talks with Mark Block, founder and director of the Electronic Vaping Coalition of America (EVCA), and Linda J. Hansen, president and founder of Capacity Strategies, LLC, and deputy director of EVCA. They discuss how the vaping industry – under increasing attacks from anti-smoking zealots, politicians looking to cash in, and government regulators – needs to get organized and fight back. They formed EVCA to bring vaping advocates together, and the national political action committee VapePAC to put that organization into action. LISTEN TO MORE


Fracking Facts DVD: What Do We Know About Hydraulic Fracturing?
Isaac Orr, a Heartland Institute research fellow, narrates a series of eight three-minute videos on hydraulic fracturing, better known as “fracking.” The video series highlights that fracking is beneficial because it increases our access to oil and natural gas. It is safe – it doesn’t pollute groundwater or cause earthquakes – and frac sand mining doesn’t produce air pollution or other problems. Get this DVD at the Heartland Store. In fact, at only $3.99 each, you should buy several copies to inform the people in your life who are skeptical of fracking only because they don’t know all the facts.BUY IT HERE

 

Chicago Teachers Union Cancels Strike
Joy Pullmann, School Choice Weekly
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) called off a strike scheduled for October 11 after reaching a last-minute deal on a tentative contract, though no one seems to know what the agreement will cost taxpayers. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CTU both declared victory, with Emanuel stating averting the strike was the “the right thing to do.” Really? For whom? Students, parents, and taxpayers? No. As usual, this deal was “the right thing to do” for only one player: the teachers union. READ MORE
 

State Laws Force Pregnant Mothers to Rely on Black Market to Find Midwives 
Michael Hamilton, Consumer Power Report
Pregnant mothers in Alabama and other states may need to turn to the black market or drive across state lines if they want to give birth under the direction of a midwife outside of a hospital setting. The state can correct this unnecessary danger, however, by heeding the calls of mothers and midwives and updating a 1975 law that effectively makes it illegal for mothers to choose how best to give birth. Other states should also follow suit. READ MORE
 

Getting Climate Priorities Right
H. Sterling Burnett, Climate Change Weekly
Kudos to Bill Gates and other private actors’ investments in finding the next great energy breakthrough. The profit motive is most likely to secure reliable, affordable energy over the long term. But Gates and prominent “lukewarmers” like Bjorn Lomborg are wrong to declare the world also needs government to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to hasten an “energy miracle.” World leaders and government bureaucrats simply lack the individual or collective wisdom to know what types of investments, whether in energy or elsewhere, would most benefit the world. READ MORE
 

Bonus Podcast: In The Tank (ep60) – Grading Governors, Overtime Regulations, and the Increasing Popularity of School Choice
Heartland’s John Nothdurft and Donny Kendal discuss the winners and losers according to a new policy brief from the Cato Institute titled “Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors 2016,” which uses seven variables to rank governors on fiscal policy. John and Donny also discuss a recent policy brief by the Independent Women’s Forum on overtime regulations and a report from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy titled “Full School Choice Tracking Survey 2016.” LISTEN TO MORE
 

Classic Halloween Film ‘Ghostbusters’ Teaches Basic Economic Truths
Jesse Hathaway, American Spectator
Popular cultural touchstones resonate with audiences because of their basis in common experiences and truths. One of those touchstones is the 1984 hitGhostbusters. Although the focus of this well-known film is providing audiences with comedic relief, hidden beneath the film’s surface is another theme focused on a group of everyday individuals, free-market principles, and the dangers of government agencies run amok. READ MORE
 

The Climate Action Network: Funding Climate Alarmist Stunts Around the World
Ron Arnold, Environment & Climate News
Climate Action Network International and its U.S. subsidiary, the U.S. Climate Action Network, are climate-alarmist coordination centers with unique access to climate negotiations and an outsized influence on climate policies. These well-funded organizations on the radical  environmentalist left should be monitored closely by those concerned about the transparency and substance of global climate agreements – especially since they have enjoyed unique access to some of the world’s powerful politicians. READ MORE