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Anthony Fauci is fact-checked by Phil Magness. A slice:

In sum, there’s no clear evidence that aligns with Fauci’s claims about European lockdown stringency. On the whole, the US locked down at a comparable level to several European countries according to the Oxford index, with the exception of the hardest-hit locales – and those locales only surpassed us during their peak outbreaks of March and April, followed by a much more rapid relaxation of the restrictions. Meanwhile the US has clearly retained its lockdown policies for longer than almost all of Europe, and continues to stall behind Europe’s reopening process.

My intrepid Mercatus Center colleague Veronique de Rugy warns that government officials do not police themselves. A slice:

I have testified in dozens of government oversight hearings. Capitol Hill features hundreds of such hearings each year. For what? As far as I can tell, these hearings are mostly an exercise in getting soundbites for press releases to be issued by the members of Congress who attend them. Even when all of the witnesses agree that a program is wasteful or not performing as expected, appropriators then turn around and fund the program.

My colleague Bryan Caplan will teach, this Fall semester at George Mason University, a new course that he created: Economics of Immigration.

My Mercatus Center colleagues Matt Mitchell and Tad DeHaven explain why they are displeased with the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”).

In this short video, John Stossel thanks fossil fuels.

Nick Gillespie shares Ricky Gervais’s slamming of cancel culture.

[T]here is no need to excuse or whitewash Harris’ law enforcement career just because it has outlived its usefulness for her political ambitions.

My Mercatus Center colleague Adam Thierer decries unprincipled conservatives who oppose free speech. A slice:

But all hope is not lost. There are still brave voices in Republican and conservative circles who continue to stand up the the First Amendment, freedom of speech, and limits on federal regulatory meddling with speech platforms and outcomes. Commissioner O’Reilly basically lost his job because he acted as the equivalent of an intellectual whistle-blower; he called out the ideological rot seen in recent statements and actions by the White House, Senator Josh Hawley, and many other Republicans.

There is nothing remotely “conservative” about calls for reinvigorating the Fairness Doctrine and FCC speech controls. That represents repressive regulation that betrays the First Amendment and which will ultimately backfire badly and come back to haunt conservatives down the road.

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