Your writer has taken quite a bit of heat from some readers of a local newspaper column he writes for not “getting in-line” with the Pope on his identification of imminent climate catastrophe wrought by human activity. Even so, I cling to my Rosary on all matters actually Catholic. Aside from the brilliant minds at Acton and its scholars and prised of highly educated, amazingly spiritual individuals, I was beginning to feel as if I was an orphan in a...

Many problems that require public policy solutions plex and difficult to implement. But when es to improving the way we get food to hungry people in developing countries the fix can be summed up in four words: Send money, not food. As AEI’s Vincent H. Smith shows in this helpful infographic, by locally and regionally sourcing food aid the us would save $400 million a year that could help feed at least four million more people in dire need. ...

A conference held in Washington earlier this month sought to forge relationships between leaders of secular and faith-based groups working to alleviate poverty. Representatives from the World Bank Group, the German/British/US government development agencies, the GHR Foundation, World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, Islamic Relief USA, American Jewish World Service, McKinsey & Company, and more gathered for the occasion. The Lancet, a leading medical journal, published an issue on the role of religion and faith-based development organizations in global health and...

British journalist Tim Montgomerie notes that Barack Obama gave some unsolicited advice to the U.K. recently (suggesting that they spend more on defense.) Montgomerie thought it only fair to return the favor. 1. Montgomerie says America should not invade other countries unless we plan to follow through. George W Bush did at least stick with Iraq and his so-called “surge policy” delivered a reasonably stable nation by 2008. Obama than walked away and we know what happened soon afterwards: ISIS...

If you’re on welfare in New Hampshire you might want to rush out and get that new tattoo and tongue piercing, and load up on cigars and weed. In 60 days you’ll no longer be able to use your welfare payment cards on marijuana, cigars, piercings, or tattoos: Gov. Maggie Hassan signed a law that bans welfare “electronic benefit transfer” cards from being used on marijuana, among other vices. More than 12,000 New Hampshire households receive benefits on EBT cards...

Yesterday the the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 1599, known as the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015.” The bill prevents states from requiring mandatory labeling for any products containing genetically modified food. Currently, Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont all have such laws. Whether or not this might be a blow to states’ rights, it’s certainly a win mon sense. Fewer people are being fooled by the propaganda and downright bad science surrounding genetically modified food. The...

Fueled, in part, by the Pope’s passionate appeals, the campaign to reduce e inequality is growing rapidly around the globe. The e equality movement argues that there is a growing gap between the es of top earners and everyone else. This claim is supported by a recent study conducted by the International Monetary Fund. In the United States, the e growth rate for the highest e earners has significantly surpassed the national average over the past 30 years. Many politicians,...

Acton offers a wide range of events and educational opportunities suited to a variety of different tastes and learning styles (and if you haven’t done so already, you should check out DiscoverActon.org, which helps you navigate all the different ways Acton can help you learn). But one of the coolest events we put on has to be Acton On Tap, which is an informal (and FREE) gathering of friends and supporters of the Institute, plus anyone else who wants to...

What’s the purpose of lighting in a large city? That may seem like the a fine example of a stupid question, but it’s not. While we could answer that question with suggestions like safety, allowing for mercial hours and ease of travel, lighting may now be used as a way to collect data on private citizens. Using bination of LEDs and big data technology, public lighting is the potential backbone of a system that could use billions of fixtures to...

At a point in time where the election cycle invites everyone and their brother to “throw their hat in the ring,” Americans constantly jabber about which candidates might have the biggest national impact. What is overlooked is that local leaders are the ones who make the greatest impact in our daily lives. Cheryl Dorsey insists that munities must pay attention to their own leaders in order to thrive: It’s imperative that the munity and others support these entrepreneurs in munities...