Elias Sader (social sciences) and Eamonn Clark (theology) tell us how empty classrooms were immediately and smoothly substituted via digital instruction platforms. They remark how this has forced traditional teachers to e enterprising in their methodologies of instruction (especially with panying visuals) yet with some natural “learning curves” and unintended consequences. The good news is that the high-tech digital classroom models being developed and implemented may be a “beta test” for perfecting and later expanding some of the world’s best...

For the Italian Nuova Bussola Quotidiana media outlet, I am publishing a series of short reflections on economics, virtue and spirituality during Lent entitled Lentenomics(go here for the first reflection on “sacrifice”). In the second of these six essays I turned my attention to the virtue of “service.” In summary, I write that “service has a supremely essential role within the economy, and not just in the so-called ‘service industries.’ Markets simply cannot function without services. They are the fundamental...

The United States is a land of plenty, but federal officials say it does not have all the medical equipment it needs to fight the coronavirus. With the government estimating the U.S. needs anywhere from 270 million to 3.5 billion additional face masks, one would think its top priority would be facilitating the creation of new masks and finding ways to reuse its existing supply—but developments this weekend indicate otherwise. The federal government initially mended that healthcare providers wear N95...

Today, our most contentious controversies are about morality. We disagree about questions of efficiency and democracy, but across political aisles, we also disagree about what’s right to do and who we’re ing as a people. How can we have productive debates with people whose worldviews are very different from ours? Adam MacLeod, professor of law at Faulkner University, addresses this question in his new book titled “The Age of Selfies: Reasoning About Rights When the Stakes Are Personal.” In this...

Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, posted his annual analysis of think tanks’ use of social media last week inForbes. He wrote: Due to the coronavirus pandemic think tanks around the world are working under quarantine and have cancelled all events in ing months. They will have to rely more on social media to get their messages across. How successful are free-market think tanks today in trying to attract traffic to their websites, as well as views and followers on...

At some point, not today but perhaps in the next few weeks, we will be having more conversations about getting people back to work and restoring the $21 trillion U.S. economy. Some signs indicate the coronavirus pandemic may turn soon in the United States. Even if the entire nation makes an all-out effort to restrict contact, coronavirus deaths will peak in the next two weeks, with patients overwhelming hospitals in most states, according to a University of Washington study. The...

Culturally the first of April – April Fools’ Day – is the same in Italy as in America. It’s a day of practical jokes and laughs. Only here it’s called April Fish Day, because it is related to the ancient end of the Pisces or Fish sign in the zodiac. It also the day of jokes which Italians inherited from the ancient Roman feast of Hilaria (hilarious in English) celebrated around the spring equinox. During the Hilaria celebrations Romans would...

I had the privilege of being close to Jon Basil Utley (1934-2020) for the last 25 years of his life. Even though we disagreed on a few topics, we always did it with a smile. It was more like a game between friendly tennis partners than a struggle to score political or intellectual points against each other. Several years ago I read Odyssey of a Liberal, the autobiography of his mother, Freda Utley. I mend the book to all who...

Rev. Robert Sirico, president and co-founder of the Acton Institute, reflects on the unprecedented levels of debt that our society is taking on in the name of fighting the coronavirus. How tolerant are we ing to the government’s interventions? What role does subsidiarity play in solving our problems? Be sure to check out the other videos in this series, linked below. Thoughts from Rev. Robert Sirico during the coronavirus pandemic How freer markets can help during the coronavirus crisis with...

On Monday, Hungary’s parliament passed a law aimed bating the coronavirus, which gives Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the power to rule by decree. Critics warn this law gives the prime minister dictatorial powers and could allow him to suppress opposition media outlets. Here are the facts you need to know. Did the government already have these powers? This bill significantly strengthens the powers the prime minister has. The Fundamental Law of Hungary already allows the government to declare a state...