USA - A recent column in Reason magazine argues that homeschooled students are smarter and more tolerant than their publicly-educated peers. A recent column from Reason magazine contributor JD Tuccille makes the case that homeschooled students are brighter and more tolerant than their peers that attended public schools. Tuccille cites a study in an academic journal that focuses on school choice and homeschooling that makes the case that homeschooled students are the most willing to extend political freedoms to those with whom they disagree. The same study makes the case that public school decreases a student’s ability to accept opposing viewpoints. Although it seems counterintuitive, the research suggests that the homeschooling process creates students who are eager to learn from others and their diverse perspectives.

GERMANY - Germany has had enough of American foreign policy. Angela Merkel’s visits to Russia and China are a testament to that. On May 10, 2018, German Chancellor Angela Merkel openly said that Europe can no longer count on the United States to protect it, hinting that the European continent would begin to “take destiny into its own hands.” The comments were, of course, a direct reference to US President Donald Trump’s ludicrous but anticipated decision to completely nuke the Iranian nuclear accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

GERMANY - The German and British economies are heading for a disaster, Germany’s BGA trade body said on Wednesday, after the British parliament instructed Prime Minister Theresa May to renegotiate an exit treaty that the EU says it will not change. The BGA said it regretted that Britain had not put any concrete proposal for a solution on the table, adding that this was irresponsible in view of the fast-approaching Brexit deadline of March 29. “The German and especially the British economies are heading for a huge disaster,” the BGA said.

RUSSIA - The global economy is facing the threat of spiraling protectionist measures that can lead to a devastating crisis, Vladimir Putin warned. Nations must find a way to prevent this and establish rules on how the economy should work. The Russian president spoke out against the growing trend of using unilateral restrictions to achieve economic advantage, as he addressed guests of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday. “The system of multilateral cooperation, which took years to build, is no longer allowed to evolve. It is being broken in a very crude way. Breaking the rules is becoming the new rule,” he said. “The disregard for existing norms and a loss of trust may combine with the unpredictability and turbulence of the colossal change. These factors may lead to a systemic crisis, which the world has not seen yet,” he said. “We don’t need trade wars today or even temporary trade ceasefires. We need a comprehensive trade peace,” the president stressed.

GERMANY - Globalist chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel has used an award acceptance speech to call on the international community to “stand up” to “excessive populism and nationalism.” Dr Merkel said that as those who lived through World War II are dwindling in numbers, the lessons learnt from the conflict are being lost, resulting in a rise of “populism and nationalism,” affirming that “we have to resolutely stand up against this type of thinking.” The Chancellor made the comments after being awarded the Fulbright Prize for International Understanding in Berlin on Monday, the first time the American award was presented outside of the United States. While Dr Merkel made her thinly-veiled criticism of President Trump, his hand-picked ambassador to Germany Rick Grenell looked on.

ISRAEL - Ex-IDF chief gets boost in bid to unseat Netanyahu after launching campaign, teaming up with Ya’alon; survey says he could win election with further tie-ups. An electoral alliance headed by former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz would be the second largest faction in the Knesset following national elections in April, according to a new poll released Wednesday, shortly after the retired general’s first political speech. Gantz kicked off his bid to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday with the official launch of his Israel Resilience party’s campaign and announcement he will run on a joint electoral list with fellow former military chief Moshe Ya’alon.

VATICAN - Countries that are unable to assimilate migrants should stop accepting more until they are able to integrate them, Pope Francis told reporters on the papal plane Monday. The pope put forward Sweden as an example of a country that had accepted many migrants in the past but realized recently that the migrants coming in were becoming ghettoized rather than integrating in Swedish society, and so put a moratorium on accepting more. “A ruler must use prudence, because prudence is the virtue of those who govern,” Francis told reporters during a press conference returning from Panama.

USA - Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook  has been secretly paying people to install a “Facebook Research” VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user’s phone and web activity, similar to Facebook’s Onavo Protect app that Apple banned in June and that was removed in August. Facebook sidesteps the App Store and rewards teenagers and adults to download the Research app and give it root access to network traffic in what may be a violation of Apple policy so the social network can decrypt and analyze their phone activity, a TechCrunch investigation confirms. Facebook admitted to TechCrunch it was running the Research program to gather data on usage habits, and it has no plans to stop.

USA - Even though it’s now been 100 percent verified that Nathan Phillips, the Native American activist who provoked the Covington Catholic High School boys by banging a drum in one of their faces, did not serve in Vietnam as he’s repeatedly claimed, the fake news “fact-checking” website Snopes continues to claim otherwise.

EUROPE - Finally I understand everything: why Brexit is proving so impossible to negotiate; why Leave voters are more determined than ever to get the hardest Brexit possible, preferably No Deal; why Theresa May keeps caving to Brussels; why the political class is so out of touch with the electorate; why this can only get uglier… Actually, I knew the answer to all this before. And so did you.

UK - The European Union’s leaders never got around to framing a clear strategy to deal with Brexit, but an optimist might say it’s never too late. Let’s suppose they decided to try. What would a strictly self-interested plan look like? It should be easy to rule out the least-good outcome. That would be a no-deal Brexit.

UK - Suffering the largest parliamentary defeat in modern history would give most prime ministers pause for thought. Not Theresa May. On January 21st she presented the House of Commons with her “Plan B” for Brexit. It turned out to be much the same as the Plan A which they had so decisively thrown out the week before. Mrs May still hopes that the European Union will agree to last-minute concessions, and that these will enable her to overturn the 230-vote majority against her deal. Yet with the clock ticking, that is a formidably tall order. Through a combination of Britain’s weak negotiating position, the Conservative Party’s lack of a parliamentary majority and her own reluctance to compromise, Mrs May is running a zombie government that has lost control of the Brexit process. If no deal is struck by March 29th, Britain is due to fall out of the EU without any exit agreement.

UK - Yup, it’s Crunch Week in Brexit Britain.  But then again, when isn’t it? It was “Crunch Week” when British and EU negotiators raced to sign off on a deal late last year, it was “Crunch Week” when lawmakers in London rebelled against it, and it was “Crunch Week” when May finally presented the agreement to Parliament earlier this month.

USA - A draft of a new committee rules package expected to be approved this week would strike the phrase, “So help me God,” from the oath witnesses take when they testify before the House Committee on Natural Resources. Fox News says it received an exclusive copy of the committee’s draft that places the phrase in red brackets, a sign the words are slated to be eliminated. If the phrase is cut, the House Committee on Natural Resources would ask witnesses to state only: “Do you solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of law, that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” The full committee will vote on the elimination of “So help me God” this week, and the rule would take effect immediately, says the report.

USA - Children have become such screen addicts they are abandoning their friends and hobbies, a major report warns today. Researchers found under-fives spend an hour and 16 minutes a day online. Their screen time rises to four hours and 16 minutes when gaming and television are included. Youngsters aged 12 to 15 average nearly three hours a day on the web – plus two more hours watching TV.