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Brownstone Journal features in-depth articles, news, research, and commentary on public health, science, economics, social theory, and related policy issues — offering critical perspectives on institutional failures, government interventions, and threats to liberty.

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Will the Mask Mandate for Plane Travel Ever End?

As the pre-flight recording makes abundantly and obnoxiously clear down to the excruciating detail of what needs to happen after every bite and sip, travelers are expected to be fully masked from above the nose to below the mouth during every non-eating and drinking second of our existence at these infernal places. It’s torture enough on relatively short, on-time flights, but God help you if your flight is delayed, and even God won’t be able to help you if you’re stuck for hours on a tarmac inside a plane that has ‘mechanical issues.’

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Most Academics Went Silent. Why?

Yet, throughout this pandemic, notice how many global health scholars were totally silent on lockdowns. How many global health researchers said nothing as India sacrificed the future of a generation with school closures? How many US based disparity researchers or early childhood advocates were silent on school closure? I believe most were quiet!

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The Moral Cruelty of the Pandemic Response

Beyond empathy, to combat a psychic epidemic we need meaning in our lives. Not an ersatz top-down solidarity, dreamt up by technocratic communications experts, but genuine, socially meaningful relationships, purpose and values. Lockdowns and restrictions squashed exactly what we need to flourish as human beings in order to counteract a psychic epidemic. For the good of the collective, we must recapture meaning and values as individuals. 

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Covid-19 at College: Which Institutions Stayed Sane and Which Went Insane?

A review of college mitigation policies suggests that the more elite the college the more draconian the mitigation measures. With some digging, you can uncover a wide range of excellent private and public colleges. Most important to keep in mind; any school that makes complying with mandates a non-negotiable condition to making dreams come true should promptly be removed from the list.

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The Not-Very-Hidden Agenda of the Fact Checkers

Some anonymous drone at LinkedIn took it upon his or herself (there are no other options) to waste the time and hurt the reputation of a customer. When that customer got fed up by such horrendous abuse from a company that was supposed to provide a service, that same anonymous, unaccountable petty person or collection of people told that customer to go spend money on lawyers to sue LinkedIn for access to the data that customer (erroneously) believes he owns.

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digital-brownshirts

Digital Brownshirts and Their Masters

Digital Brownshirts are just the most visible and forward-leaning elements of a much broader effort to install the logic of the algorithm—a providential and vertically-imposed concept of truth that vitiates traditional fact-finding and admits neither human intelligence nor scientific debate—as a cornerstone of our human interactions and cognitive processes.

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