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Connecting today’s news with the research & opinion you need.

An Appealing Turn of Events

What to Know: California says it will try to save Obamacare by appealing the recent ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals holding the Affordable Care Act’s “individual mandate” as unconstitutional.

The TPPF Take: California is right about one thing; states should step in and take ownership of health care policies.

“This is an opportunity for states to step up and tackle the issue of health care,” says TPPF’s Rob Henneke, who argued the ACA case on behalf of the individual plaintiffs. “The ACA has proven that no one-size-fits-all solution from Washington is going to solve the myriad of problems with the health care system. We need the federal government out of our personal health care choices.”

Tanks for the Memories

What to Know: The Portland City Council has banned all new fossil fuels infrastructure—including pipelines and storage infrastructure. About 90 percent of the state’s oil and gas moves through the port city.

The TPPF Take: By banning new infrastructure such as pipelines and storage tanks, Portland is ensuring that Oregon is more likely to experience energy shortages, while making available energy more expensive.

“While politicians declare their intention to wean their states off of oil and natural gas, reality—the physics of battery energy storage, the chemistry of energy density, and the economics of both—will dictate that the nation will be dependent on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “The results will be entirely predictable.”

Free Speech, Within Limits

What to Know: A new study shows that millions of American college students are denied their right to free speech on campuses.

The TPPF Take: When academia set aside the free exchange of ideas, it lost its mission.

“Universities have become ‘comfort colleges,’ but only for those who hold the correct beliefs,” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay. “But as a new survey of college student shows, too many of them feel afraid to speak honestly on campus for fear of offending someone. Conformism of thought, and efforts to enforce it, have become the norm.”