Why is the Patriot Act back in the news? Last night three key provisions of the law were allowed to expire (at least temporarily) after Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) blocked an extension of the program during a Sunday session of the Senate. What is the Patriot Act? The official title of the law is the USA Patriot Act of 2001, an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate ToolsRequired to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” The 320-page law, signed...

It’s nice when we can take a contentious issue and get right to the heart of it in a few steps. Thanks to The Daily Signal for these graphics on school choice: ...

President of The King’s College in New York City and one of this year’s Acton University plenaries, Greg Thornbury, gives his top 5 book picks for today’s college students. 1. Plato’s Dialogues Plato’s dialogues are good for virtually everything that ails our society. He takes on relativism, skepticism, materialism, and incivility. Gorgias clarifies the difference between truth-seeking and posturing. 2. The Confessions of St. Augustine In Confessions, Augustine of Hippo charts his tumultuous journey to God in the ing-of-age story...

In the spirit of PowerLinks, we’ll be adding a regular roundup on news concerning Pope Francis’ ing encyclical on the environment and, more broadly, religious witness on environmental stewardship outside the Roman Catholic Church. This may be a daily PowerBlog feature, or you may see it less frequently depending on the volume of news mentary on the subject. If you haven’t got to it yet, make sure you watch Rev. Robert A. Sirico’s mentary on the encyclical, which was posted...

Three of the most basic principles of economics are that people are price-sensitive, risk-averse, and that they respond to incentives. If you raise the price of a good or service people will, in general, tend to buy less (price-sensitive). If you give a person a choice between a certain e (“I’ll pay you $50 for nothing”) or a higher payoff on an uncertain e (“I’ll pay you $100 or nothing based on a coin-flip”), they’ll generally take the less risky...

Now that the U.S. has re-established diplomatic relations with Pearl of the Antilles, interest in Cuba is rising. While there are no crystal balls about Cuba’s future, here are a few things we do know about the island-nation’s economy, thanks to Pew Research. 1. Cuba was doing business with the U.S. even before the embargo was lifted. A partial repeal of the embargo allowed for this, and Cuba really needed food, medical supplies and medicine. 2. Cuba’s economic growth has...

Acton Communication Specialist Elise Graveline Hilton has been working hard for quite some time to shed light on the huge—but often hidden—problem of human trafficking. Most recently, she made an appearance on the RealClear Radio Hour podcast with host Bill Frezza to discuss the economics of trafficking both in the United States and around the world. This is another great opportunity to learn the signs of human trafficking so that you can be a part of the solution to this...

Oceans of ink have already been spilled in the media coverage of Pope Francis’ new encyclical on the environment — and it hasn’t even been released yet. In this reflection, Rev. Robert A. Sirico draws on Catholic social teaching to provide a helpful framework for understanding environmental stewardship. While we wait to find out what’s actually in the new encyclical, expected to be published in June, Acton’s president and co-founder sees a consistent thread of thinking on environmental stewardship that...

As I wrote here a couple of weeks ago, nail salons across the country are under scrutiny for abusive labor tactics and human trafficking. New York City has taken a hard look at this issue (thank goodness!) and is considering implementing some not-so-well-thought-out policies. Included in this are: Gov. Andrew Cuomo invoking “emergency measures,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) citing federal legislation on product safety she’s introduced and of course New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio presiding over a...

The religious shareholders of As You Sow and Calvert Investments are heralding last month’s shareholder vote on greenhouse gas reduction targets as an out-and-out victory. Ummmm … not so fast. Although the press release on the AYS website trumpets: “Shareholders Vote for Greenhouse Gas Reductions at Midwest Utilities,” the facts tell a much different story. Yes, some shareholders did indeed vote in favor of the AYS/CI resolution, but not nearly enough to pass it: Citing climate change impacts and financial...