Author: Tim Worstall

Forbes published a list this week of media outlets that it claims we can trust. Unfortunately, Forbes’ meaning of “trust” is who obeys all the rules about who they’ve asked whether something is true. Not, that is the thing we’re interested in, whether that something is actually true or not. This is the grand problem with so much American journalism – are they obeying the rules about how they say something, rather than whether the thing they say is objectively true. This is why we see so much “according to experts then…” which is really just code for “this person…

Who is it that benefits most from school choice? Students in the worst school systems in the country.

TikTok is about to become the propaganda outfit that so many worried it would be. Except it’s not going to be Chinese propaganda, this is to come from the United Nations instead. As Engadget applauds, nothing that contradicts the UN’s “climate science” is to be allowed in TikTok videos. There free speech, scientific inquiry and even just plain good common sense. “Last month, TikTok updated its community guidelines to add policies that prohibit videos with climate change misinformation on the app,” Engadget reported. This idea of having censorship of “misinformation” sounds so lovely and cuddly. Why wouldn’t we want people not…

Gizmodo tells its readers in a new piece that businesses cannot criticize government spending if they receive any funding from the government. Getting Social Security means you can’t argue against the Pentagon – which kills much of Bernie Sanders’s political argument. But jokes aside this really is the argument that is being put forward – a recipient from one part of government cannot argue against another such money collector from another part, in an article headlined, “Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla Get Far More Government Money than NPR.” This follows Musk’s Twitter designating NPR as “government-influenced media.” That apparently isn’t allowed, as…

As everyone knows baseball has been going downhill since Babe Ruth stopped pitching. But now we have a new problem, climate change is making home runs easier. If only Babe had been able to be here to hit these days, right? This is the latest insistence, climate change is going to change baseball. Gizmodo reports: Climate Change Is Making Baseball Worse Baseball players are hitting more home runs. Is it sheer talent, or warmer air? Also NowThis: Going, Going, Gone: Study Says Climate Change Juicing Homers Climate change is making major league sluggers into hotter hitters, sending an extra 50 or so…

So just how much money are we all spending on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – or DEI – in colleges? That diversity that has a howling mob threaten, shout down and even physically strike Riley Gaines as she gives a talk on campus? Or as AIM has asked, how many women do we need to attack to advance feminism? And why are we paying for this? The answer is too much, as physical violence toward women is never acceptable. But we are paying for it more each year. The real reason for the rising cost of college is that the…

Glamour hugely misleads its readership over the latest bill in Florida to clarify education. The claim is that girls may not talk about menstruation and periods. Which is, of course, a ridiculous idea. No one is suggesting that and we’d be among those shouting if someone did. What is happening is that the curriculum is being clarified. These things, these things here, should be taught in these types of lessons. Those things over there, they’re more suited to a different type of class. And that really is all that is happening. As Florida legislators debate whether a bill would prohibit discussing…

Techcrunch shows in a new article just how extreme climate change hysteria has become. The piece’s complaint is that the latest IPCC report says that the 1.5°C target might not be met, and that we might go as far as 2.0°C. As the IPCC reports also say that’s not a huge problem. It’s something we can mitigate and adapt to. That, of course, is entirely different from the worries that we might go to 3°C, or 4°C, and the world becomes very, very different. That is, by the way, what those official reports say. But leave that aside and think about…

The Associated Press claimed this month that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is going to ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from being taught in Florida’s schools. This is entirely untrue. Here is a reprint of the AP piece at NowThis: “The rule change would ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4 to 12.” Here’s the same piece (lightly rewritten) at Vice: “Florida is moving to ban most classroom instruction on sexuality and gender in public schools through the entire K-12 system, just the latest “anti-woke” culture war move from likely 2024 presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis.”…

Forbes seems to be taking China’s side on a potential TikTok ban. Given that Forbes is largely owned by Hong Kong and China-based investors, that seems reasonable enough. If a Chinese media company, ByteDance, can be forced to sell TikTok – or be banned from the U.S. – then other China-based investors in American media, like, say, Forbes, might get worried. But there’s a disclosure Forbes should have made at this point. Not making the disclosure is regarded as misinformation, even disinformation. Because people don’t know, they cannot evaluate whether Forbes’ arguments are pure or are about its own financial…