Free Republic

Happiness is a difficult thing to measure, but one initiative at the United Nations has been trying to figure it out. Every year since 2012, the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network has published its World Happiness Report—a study that examines the connections between happiness and development, all while encouraging policymakers to place more of an emphasis on the former. Around 1,000 people in each U.N. member state rate their quality of life on a scale from 0 to 10, while researchers cull data from six areas: GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support, trust and corruption, perceived freedom to make...

(JillStanek.com) UPDATE, 6:25 PM: Ahead of the full video release CMP has posted quotes from StemExpress executives, who say they ship whole heads, because neural tissue is “insanely fragile,” and that they work with nearly 100 clinics nationwide – half Planned Parenthood – with which they have a good relationship. They also say some abortion clinics they work with are unsanitary and they’ve “seen staph come out of clinics.” This afternoon Los Angeles District Court Judge Joanne O’Donnell lifted a temporary restraining order (TRO) that had been placed against The Center for Medical Progress after fetal tissue procurement company StemExpress...

Human Capital - Episode 2: Inside the Planned Parenthood Supply Site

.........."As part of the work under way to update the current migratory policy and adjust it to the conditions of the present and the foreseeable future, the Cuban government, in exercise of its sovereignty, has decided to eliminate the procedure of the exit visa for travel to the exterior," the notice read. The measure also extends to 24 months the amount of time Cubans can remain abroad, and they can request an extension when that runs out. Currently, Cubans lose residency and other rights including social security and free health care and education after 11 months. Still, the notice said...

The world is a far better place when we embrace the transnational flow of people and ideas, limit the urge to engage in academic protectionism, and expand the reach of the global meritocracy. For some Americans, references to the “global higher education market” call to mind hazy semesters spent guzzling beer in some European capital, the exceptionally intelligent Asian or South Asian classmates in a computer science course, or that sophisticated friend who went abroad to get a master’s in “Catalan Identity” (apologies to Woody Allen). Through this lens, the globalization of higher education is the process by which the...

In 1981, Michael Bloomberg was fired. The mayor-to-be had enjoyed a meteoric career, becoming a partner at Salomon Brothers at the precocious age of 31. But in 1979, he was exiled from the exciting trading floor to hang out with the geeks in systems development, and two years later Salomon dispensed with his services altogether. Bloomberg’s $10 million severance package was admittedly a lot better than what most of Manhattan’s unemployed workers received. Still, he was out of a job in the middle of a severe national recession. But Bloomberg’s experience, both on the floor and with the geeks, had...

When Henry Ford declared that his customers could have any color car they wanted "as long as it's black,"--Model T's were available only in black from 1914 to 1927–surely he was behaving like a commissar. When Ford, an abstemious and thrifty man, banned smoking in Ford factories, that was another commissar/coercive act. Old Henry was behaving like a commissar or a thug–Don Corleone comes to mind--wasn't he? Not quite. A black Model T was a deal which potential customers could refuse...more