The Fourth Big Lie of Vaccinology

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Government is the greatest enemy of freedom. We have known this since childhood. But the government has grown tentacles — distant relatives, and even necessary collaborators. And they are everywhere, sharing the same common purpose: to make our lives more difficult. With a conservative government, we have rid ourselves of a large part of the first threat, but we have not yet eradicated the disease entirely. In private capital corporations, in the media, in the fashions, habits, and customs of each era, and in the viscous moral depravity of a godless world, countless prisons lie hidden, trapping us while promising that we live in a world freer than ever before. Culture was once a guarantee of freedom. Knowledge made us freer. Back then, culture meant the classics of literature and the films of that mainstream Hollywood whose purposes, in this order, were to entertain and to make us better people. The more cultural and intellectual a work was, the more niche it became. Freedom was a kind of elitism. Today, things are different. Culture has become more pop than ever. It has expanded and now dominates the world, reaching far beyond the limits of governments. Culture is no longer Don Quixote and Thomas Aquinas, but Netflix and a content creator living in a garage surrounded by pizza boxes and empty beer cans, whose only contact with the real world is video games and reels of normalized porn actresses on TikTok. When we fought the cultural battle against that garbage, it was for a reason: because supposedly private wokeism had become more invasive than the perverse actions of governments and public authorities. But it would be absurd to believe that we will be free again simply because trash like Barbie stops finding funding. There exists a sociological cultural magma that is not directly related to content itself, but to the ways in which it is produced and disseminated. Different technological advances have changed our way of life — think of radio or television. Because of them, we lost some freedoms — perhaps family time — and gained others — information, which makes us freer. The same can be said of social media or the invasion of AI. The great difference lies in how much freedom they take from us, and what they offer in return. We are freer when a reel exposes government corruption, but we are less free insofar as we need, like addicts, to scroll through 3,000 reels a day just to feel good. We are freer when a reel exposes government corruption, but we are less free insofar as we need, like addicts, to scroll through 3,000 reels a day just to feel good. Reels, tweets, bikini photos on dating apps, roulette wheels spinning on online betting sites. And behind it all lies a diabolical weapon, as we have seen a thousand times: a dark algorithm we do not know, but which knows everything about each of us — including the precise way our subconscious is most easily defeated — violating our will, which is precisely what allows us to exercise the freedom we have won. I am not in favor of large-scale interventions. And I sincerely implore that no government intervene to save us from the addictions — or whatever you want to call them — that curtail our freedom today. If the government were to gain control over the algorithms that now ensnare and deceive us, it would not free us from them; it would simply multiply the dose to satisfy its insatiable greed. Still, my goal for 2026 is to fight for my freedom — and for everyone’s. And the first step is recognizing that, after freeing ourselves from a far-left government, and after making significant progress in the culture war by defeating wokism, our most urgent task now — as conservatives, and indeed as human beings — is to free ourselves from the invisible bonds that restrain us, reshape our behavior, our tastes, and our hopes, and lead us to unknown places potentially more dangerous than our old, clearly identified enemies. Freedom is even more threatened when we consider that behind the forces that now dominate our lives stand magnates we know by name — and I very much doubt they possess the pure and honest vocation of a Saint Ignatius of Loyola. From social networks to apps that make our lives more convenient while geolocating every movement, purchase, and click; from AI that forces us into the constant dilemma of asking Grok — another AI — whether something is real or not, to the compulsive shopping induced by platforms like Temu through psychological warfare techniques and the dirty manipulation of data and emotions. It is a manipulative virus that will undoubtedly spread soon to all channels of commerce and communication, unless consumers reclaim old ethics — a minimum of nobility between seller and buyer — and unless large corporations begin to compete to make us freer, not more enslaved. This is not the first time we have confronted invasive, colossal enemies, and victory has never come easily. But there is a reason for hope: for the first time in history, we are fighting something — an algorithm — that can be short-circuited by a glass of water poured right on top of it. READ MORE from Itxu Díaz: 2025 Unfiltered: Politics, Pandemonium, and Peculiar Peace Cooking to Scare Friends and In-Laws Chronicle of the Final Hours Leading to the Salvation of the World

Our nation, arising out of the American Revolution, was blessed with a disproportionate number of leaders with extraordinary accomplishments in a wide variety of human endeavors. To cite just three: Benjamin Franklin had a minimal formal education but became an extraordinary writer, political philosopher, diplomat, scientist (for example, his work on electricity), and businessman. Thomas Jefferson, who had only a couple of years of college (one largely spent partying), was not only another extraordinary wordsmith (the Declaration of Independence), but also a political philosopher, U.S. president who doubled the size of the nation, an architectural genius, and a paleontologist. Alexander Hamilton died (by gunshot) well before his 50th birthday, but in his lifetime went from being a poor immigrant to Revolutionary War aide to George Washington, a pioneer banker, and a secretary of the treasury of extraordinary accomplishment. But an individual with arguably equal personal accomplishments and multifaceted talents, Manasseh Cutler, has been mostly ignored. The Post Office put him on a three-cent stamp nearly 90 years ago, but until the late great historian David McCullough championed Cutler’s virtues (Pioneers, his new posthumous History Matters) towards the end of his distinguished career and even after, he was largely ignored. Cutler should be revered for two gigantic accomplishments. First, through adroit maneuvering and politicking, he kept slavery out of the large expansion of the nation that accompanied the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Three-quarters of a century before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Cutler was responsible for prohibiting slavery in what then was the nation’s fastest-growing section, known now as the Midwest. Lincoln grew up from the age of seven in slave-free territory (Indiana, later Illinois) courtesy of Cutler. As a scholar who reveres Lincoln and even once spoke admirably of him at the Lincoln Cottage a few miles from the White House, where he drafted the Emancipation, I think a decent case can be made that Cutler arguably did almost as much for black advancement in American democratic life, long before Lincoln was even born. Second, Cutler promoted public support of education in a largely unprecedented way. He provided the majestic language of Article Three of the Ordinance: “Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” The law, which largely resulted from earlier discussions at the Bunch of Grapes tavern in Boston by a group that soon became called the Ohio Company, provided public lands for educational purposes, and out of it was created the first college in the Midwest, Ohio University. (Full disclosure: I am part of an ongoing but likely successful fundraising drive to erect a statue to Cutler on that university’s campus next to its handsome 200+ year-old administration building named after him, generously supported by, among others, a prominent member of the Ohio black community.) Cutler adroitly made deals with key politicians to get their support for the legislation in the Confederate Congress, for example, helping some of them get opportunities to secure lucrative claims to some of the new public land. Cutler himself went on later to serve in the Congress created by the new U.S. Constitution. Yet, if you had asked Cutler, “What do you do for a living?” he likely would have said, “I am a Congregational minister in Massachusetts,” a job he held for over 50 years, beginning a few years after graduating from Yale. But like the other polymaths mentioned above, that does not begin to describe Cutler’s accomplishments. He was probably the leading botanist of his era, collecting vast numbers of plant species. He was an amateur geologist and explorer. He climbed the highest peak in the Eastern United States (in New Hampshire), naming it “Mount Washington,” and attempted to scientifically measure its height (admittedly, somewhat inaccurately). He became a good friend of other colonial era polymaths, including Franklin, and was an elected member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 1776 was truly an annus mirabilis, bringing not only the creation of our great nation but also such important earth-changing events as Adam Smith’s epic book The Wealth of Nations (championing free trade and the power of markets) and James Watt’s first commercial use of the revolutionary steam engine, an important part of the emerging Industrial Revolution that raised living standards and life expectancy. It was the finest manifestation of one of the greatest movements in world history, the Enlightenment. In this semiquincentennial year, let us rejoice in the contributions made by these extraordinary Revolutionary Era Americans, including the neglected Manasseh Cutler. READ MORE from Richard K. Vedder: America’s Universities: A Multi-Generational Perspective Aristotle on a Balanced Budget Amendment Promoting Campus Viewpoint Diversity: A Modest Proposal Richard Vedder is a distinguished professor of economics emeritus at Ohio University and senior fellow at both Unleash Prosperity and the Independent Institute.

It was a headline that I had to read twice: An NBA draft pick deciding to walk away and play college ball instead. Being an NBA draft pick wasn’t enough for James Nnaji. In a plot twist worthy of a Netflix sports series, Nnaji, a 7‑footer Nigerian center, was drafted 31st in 2023, traded twice, and never logged a single NBA minute except for a handful of summer league games. He continued to play professionally in Europe after he was drafted, but has switched gears and is committed to Baylor University. The 21-year-old can play immediately and has four years of eligibility.  Nnaji makes his debut on January 3 against TCU and is poised to shake up the Big 12. This is part of the growing trend of former pros boomeranging back to college ball. It is the latest chapter in the Name Image Likeness (NIL) renaissance era that has turned the NCAA into a semi‑pro league with better payouts optimized for athletes who major in monetization. Provided you thought college was still the domain of frat parties, lousy dining‑hall pizza, and people who think 8 a.m. classes build character, think again, because it is now Plan B for NBA hopefuls who need a reboot. College athletics has morphed into the sports world’s “Where Are They Now?” episode nobody asked for, and the storylines only get more unhinged as time moves along. Forget one‑and‑done in the NIL era, the hot new trend is players swimming upstream like salmon with endorsement deals. NIL money, combined with NCAA rule loosening, has made it possible for former pros to moonlight as college athletes, so long as they remain within the five-year post-high-school window. One year pro then back to class. It is like taking a gap year after you have already gone pro. Nnaji is not alone, as his decision puts a spotlight on an increasing number of professional basketball players choosing to play in the NCAA. In 2025, after two seasons with G League Ignite and the Delaware Blue Coats, Thierry Darlan became Santa Clara’s first ex-G Leaguer to play college ball. He has two years of NCAA eligibility. London Johnson is another heavily recruited former high school player who skipped the NCAA, spent years grinding in the Ignite system and in the G League, and has committed to Louisville with two years of eligibility. Toni Bilic, a versatile forward who can play multiple spots on the perimeter and in the frontcourt, crossed the Atlantic, leaving multiple seasons of professional basketball in Croatia to join Illinois midseason and just in time for Big 10 play. In perhaps the most dramatic of plot twists, Lucas Langarita shut down his Spanish pro career, hopped on a plane, and joined Utah ­midseason and with immediate eligibility. Tom Izzo has been the head coach at Michigan State University for decades and is one of the most influential voices in college basketball recently blasted the NCAA for allowing former NBA G League players to return to college basketball, calling the situation “ridiculous” and “embarrassing.” Izzo is not alone. Bill Self, the longtime head coach at the University of Kansas, admitted that the landscape is so chaotic that his staff might eventually “recruit one [a former pro] before it is all said and done.” Self joked that he thought teams could soon “recruit straight from NBA teams,” highlighting how nonsensical and unregulated the NCAA is. Freshmen? Will there ever be another Fab-Five class? Give it time, and someone will hire an NBA liaison whose entire portfolio is “eligible returnees.” Who needs the grad‑transfer portal and its ever-revolving carousel when you can simply buy out a forward from Europe and enjoy a midseason delivery of a ready‑made starter? Who needs March Madness when we have November-from-Pro-Madness? READ MORE from Greg Maresca: 2025 Rear-View Awards When Parenthood Becomes a Purchase Unheralded and Autonomous: The Army–Navy Game