Diesel powers the trucks delivering groceries and the machinery growing them. Its price surge is squeezing both ends of that supply chain. Trucking and delivery businesses already struggling with debt and other costs are filing for bankruptcy, while farmers face steeper fuel and fertilizer bills. Those pressures do not stay on the highway or the farm. They raise the cost of moving food, lumber and everyday goods, leaving businesses to absorb thinner margins or pass more of the bill to customers.

Teachers pay union dues to strengthen their position at work. The American Federation of Teachers’ federal filing shows money also flowing to a wider political network: $250,000 to the Center for American Progress, $100,000 each to EMILY’s List and the National Action Network, and $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation. CAP says its grant supported career and technical education research. The spending raises a direct accountability question: how much say do teachers have when their dues support organizations and causes far beyond negotiating pay and working conditions?

France’s populist Right is asking a question its establishment keeps avoiding: what is the plan to end these wars? Marine Le Pen condemns the Iran war’s costs and calls for negotiations involving both Russia and Ukraine. The argument challenges open-ended commitments that lack a defined outcome. Her own proposals need scrutiny, too: cutting aid to Ukraine without a credible settlement strategy could undermine the peace she says she wants. Diplomacy deserves a serious hearing, but a promise of restraint still needs a workable plan.

A new national study places the homeschool students it examined around the 75th to 79th percentiles on standardized academic tests, well above the national midpoint. The findings challenge the assumption that children need institutional schooling to learn effectively. Individual attention, a tailored curriculum and stronger relationships offer plausible explanations. But the study does not establish that homeschooling caused the higher scores, or that it works best for every child. It does give parents evidence that educating children at home can produce substantial academic success.