Is Detroit's New Light Rail Line America's Greatest Boondoggle?

A $137 million three-mile train is coming to a nearly deserted avenue in a bankrupt city.

Jim Epstein | 7.24.2014

Sen. Rand Paul Wants to Make it Harder for the Feds to Take Your Stuff

Scott Shackford | 7.24.2014

Will John Roberts 'Redeem Himself' on Obamacare?

The specter of judicial deference still haunts Halbig v. Burwell.

Damon Root | 7.24.2014

Barbarism in the USA: Arizona’s Botched Execution

There are limits to the type of punishment the state can impose on prisoners in America.

Lauren Galik | 7.24.2014

Border Agents Harassed My Family, Forced Me to Delete Recording, 'Because'

Welcome home!

Rogier van Bakel | 7.24.2014

Immigrant Kids and the Fear of Disease

The insistence on stigmatizing migrating foreigners because they are not exempt from normal health troubles is an old disorder. But it's entirely homegrown.

Steve Chapman | 7.24.2014

Connecticut Police Department Tries to Arrest One of Its Own For Brutality, State's Attorney Says Nope, Too Complicated

Ed Krayewski | 7.23.2014

How Much Longer Until the Government Thinks Everybody Is a Terrorist?

Scott Shackford | 7.24.2014

Los Angeles Is Killing Itself

The romantic, popular conception of the city bears increasingly little resemblance to Los Angeles today.

Rob Montz | 7.23.2014

Contemporary Democracy Is a Fraud

Once it grows to a certain size, so-called democratic government begins to soften and weaken the people.

Andrew Napolitano | 7.24.2014

Obamacare by the Numbers

A state-by-state analysis of failed health care exchanges

Peter Suderman | 7.01.2014

Secret Guidelines for Putting People on Terrorist Watchlist Revealed

They're scarily vague and broad.

From The Intercept | 7.23.2014

The Public Turns Against War

In poll after poll, Americans reject policies that might put U.S. troops in harm's way.

Jesse Walker | 7.23.2014

Border Patrol Agent Draws Gun on Boy Scout—Over a Photograph (Updated)

J.D. Tuccille | 7.22.2014

Over-Policing America

SWAT teams were once used only in emergencies such as riots or hostage situations. But today there are more than 50,000 "no-knock raids" a year.

John Stossel | 7.23.2014

Socialists Are Cheaters, Says New Study

Zenon Evans | 7.22.2014

Stop Segregating Sports by Gender

What American Ninja Warrior tells us about sex segregation.

A. Barton Hinkle | 7.23.2014

Affirmative Action = Discrimination Against Asians, NYC Schools Edition

It's very difficult for low-income 13-year-olds to cobble together appealing resumes.

Robby Soave | 7.21.2014

Prosecutors Can Screw With Hackers Just for Saying ‘Fuck Shit Up,’ Warns Security Expert

Vaguely written laws give federal prosecutors the power to target hackers at will.

Chris Francescani | 7.23.2014

Obama's Old Law Professor 'Wouldn’t Bet the Family Farm' on Obamacare Subsidies Surviving at SCOTUS

Damon Root | 7.23.2014

Drug War Refugees

Thousands of Central American children are fleeing prohibition-related violence.

Jacob Sullum | 7.23.2014

Tea Party Backed Candidate Defeats Former Libertarian Presidential Candidate Bob Barr in Georgia Congressional Primary

Ed Krayewski | 7.22.2014

A Toddler Wanders Near a Busy Street. This Cop's Response May Surprise You.

Did he slap her in handcuffs and book her for negligence and abuse?

Lenore Skenazy | 7.22.2014

Court Rules That Subsidies in Obamacare's Federal Exchange are Illegal, Dealing Huge Legal Blow to Health Law

Peter Suderman | 7.22.2014

Gaza and the Horrors of Governments

Governments war, people die

Ed Krayewski | 7.22.2014

'We Must Defer to the IRS Rule': Second Federal Court Rules on Obamacare Subsidies, Votes to Uphold

Damon Root | 7.22.2014

How 'Crazy Negroes' With Guns Helped Kill Jim Crow

Civil rights and armed self-defense in the South

Thaddeus Russell | 7.22.2014

Obamacare's Phony Success Story

After year one, the health care overhaul is riddled with problems.

Peter Suderman | 7.01.2014

Eighty Years Ago Today, John Dillinger Helped Create the FBI

Ed Krayewski | 7.22.2014

US Leaving Afghan Allies to Fight Taliban on Their Own

Amanda Winkler | 7.22.2014

Human Rights Watch: 'All of the high-profile domestic terrorism plots of the last decade, with four exceptions, were actually FBI sting operations'

So says a new report from the human rights group.

Jesse Walker | 7.22.2014

You Can't Blame Americans for Not Feeling Exceptional

John Kerry called it like it is, and neocons are throwing a tiresome fit.

Gene Healy | 7.22.2014

Life and Death of a Russian Freedom Fighter

There is a certain symbolism in the fact that Valeria Novodvorskaya died just as the Putin regime was being fully exposed as the gangster state that she had always said it was.

Cathy Young | 7.22.2014

Dodd-Frank and the Age of Endless Regulation

In this age of endless regulation, it's hard to imagine that the legal and regulatory details of the law will ever truly be settled.

Peter Suderman | 7.21.2014

You're Paying for That War in Gaza

Don't ask whether the U.S. will get involved—ask how it's involved already.

Jesse Walker | 7.21.2014

Andrew Cuomo's Corporate Welfare

The New York governor tries his hand at crony capitalism.

Ira Stoll | 7.21.2014

Mom Leaves Daughter in Car, Daughter Survives, Mom Dies in Bank Robbery

Something bad could always happen.

Lenore Skenazy | 7.21.2014

Obama on Russia and Malaysian Jet Attack: 'What Exactly Are They Trying to Hide?'

From White House | 7.21.2014

Immigration Is Good for the U.S. Economy

Let them in.

A. Barton Hinkle | 7.21.2014

The Truth About Violence in Chicago

Judged as a whole, Chicago is doing a lot of things right. Judged by the plight of its least fortunate, that's not nearly enough.

Steve Chapman | 7.21.2014

Adult-Enticing E-Cigarette Flavors That Only Senators Could Hate

New data show that grownups prefer supposedly juvenile e-cigarette flavors.

Jacob Sullum | 7.21.2014

Eric Garner's Arrest and Death About More Than Just a Chokehold

Scott Shackford | 7.20.2014

Punishing Prostitution Clients Is Not a Feminist Solution

Conceptually the "Nordic Model"—which criminalizes the buying rather than the selling of sexual services—strips women of agency and autonomy.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 7.20.2014

War, Peace and Libertarians

Murray Rothbard and contemporary foreign affairs

Sheldon Richman | 7.20.2014

The Middle East Needs Capitalism!

Ed Krayewski | 7.19.2014

Let's Try a Libertarian Foreign Policy

Don’t believe haters like Rick Perry and Chris Christie. A libertarian foreign policy is the only cure for what ails us abroad.

Nick Gillespie | 7.19.2014

Smart Apps vs. Obamacare

The Affordable Care Act locks in the status quo, but new technology is making health care cheaper and more individualized.

Greg Beato | 7.01.2014

The Flawed Progressive Scheme to 'Reclaim the Constitution'

Damon Root | 7.19.2014

The Crony Capitalism Machine

The Export-Import Bank is inefficient and immoral.

Veronique de Rugy | 7.19.2014

France's Absurd New 'Homemade' Law Handcuffs Restaurants

France’s restaurants and French cooking are under attack. The enemy comes from within—and wears a white hat.

Baylen Linnekin | 7.19.2014

Obama Is Calling for 'Economic Patriotism'. Don't Listen.

Where we stand on the issue of corporate taxation is no way to measure a person's loyalty to his country.

David Harsanyi | 7.18.2014

What Ronald Reagan Said When Korean Air 007 Was Shot Down by the Soviet Union in 1983

Matt Welch | 7.18.2014

Famine No More: The World of Plenty Lies Ahead

The prophets of overpopulation doom and imminent global famine will likely once again be disappointed.

Ronald Bailey | 7.18.2014

Watch the NYPD Choke a Guy to Death Over Alleged Black Market Cigarettes

Scott Shackford | 7.18.2014

Vote to Apply Sentencing Change Retroactively Could Let Nearly Half of Federal Drug War Prisoners Go Free Early

Jacob Sullum | 7.18.2014

I Saw a Man Get Arrested For a Sex Crime Because He Made a Scheduling Error

'I might be mistaken... but technically he has broken the law and failure to comply with the registry laws is considered a new sexual offense.'

Lenore Skenazy | 7.17.2014

The NSA Is Totally Passing Around Your Sexy Selfies

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 7.18.2014

Why Conservative Reformers, and the Rest of the Right, Should Adopt a Foreign Policy of Caution

Peter Suderman | 7.18.2014

Ban Taxis

If Uber isn't safe, then taxicabs aren't either.

Steven Greenhut | 7.18.2014

Boyhood: Life Itself. I Origins: Adrift in the Spirit World.

Richard Linklater delivers a long-form masterwork, Michael Pitt and Brit Marling get lost in a sci-fi muddle.

Kurt Loder | 7.18.2014

New Obamacare Exemption: All U.S. Territories (After Years of Complaining)

From American Samoa to the Virgin Islands

Ed Krayewski | 7.18.2014

Will Malaysia Flight Start a War? 24/7 News Cycle Freakout Over Downing of Malaysia Flight In Ukraine Continues

Ed Krayewski | 7.18.2014

Friday Funnies: Bad Rich People

Henry Payne | 7.18.2014

The Pink Elephant in the Room: Eyes on Gay Republican Candidates

Is the political viability of gay GOP candidates another sign of libertarian influence on the party?

Scott Shackford | 7.17.2014

'This Is What Happens When You Call the Cops' Rap: Catchy, True, Sad

Zenon Evans | 7.17.2014

UPDATED: Cop Shoots 17-Year-Old Boy Who Answers Door, Nothing Else Happens GBI Says "Case File" Still Open

Ed Krayewski | 7.17.2014

Social Issues, Not Economics, Largely Define Political Labels for Millennials

Emily Ekins | 7.17.2014

Again With the Isolationist Smears

Even interventionism is sometimes too isolationist for today's on the go interventionists

Sheldon Richman | 7.17.2014

Obamacare Continues to be a Drag on Democrats

Peter Suderman | 7.17.2014

Marijuana Smell Doesn't Justify Car Searches, Says MA Court

J.D. Tuccille | 7.17.2014

Obama's 'Chilling' Effect

The government's goal with chilling is to deter dissent without actually interfering with it.

Andrew Napolitano | 7.17.2014

Free Salondotcom! Twitter Shuts Down Hilarious Salon Parody Account

It's not clear exactly why Twitter shut down @Salondotcom, although the social media service has been known to suspend parody accounts.

Robby Soave | 7.16.2014

Conservatives Should Embrace Obama's Plan For Tolls to Rebuild Interstate Highways

The president's plan would actually give states more control, tap the private sector's capital, and move the country closer to the Tea Party's user-pays principles.

Robert Poole | 7.16.2014

Mom Jailed Because She Let Her 9-Year-Old Daughter Play in the Park Unsupervised

If only the girl had spent her whole summer sitting in McDonald's.

Lenore Skenazy | 7.14.2014

Millennials Don’t Like Either Party, Democrats Viewed as the Better of Two Bad Options

Emily Ekins | 7.15.2014

Moving Your Company Overseas Is So Evil, Jack Lew Would Ban it in the Past!

J.D. Tuccille | 7.16.2014

Let People Live Where They Choose

Mass transit and "planned spaces" appeal to the bureaucratic mind, but Americans want to stay in their suburban homes.

John Stossel | 7.16.2014

John Boehner's Lawsuit Against President Obama Probably Won't Succeed in Court—But It Doesn't Have To

Peter Suderman | 7.16.2014

Climatologist John Christy: "The Science Is Not Settled"

Ronald Bailey | 7.16.2014

Should Expectant Moms Who Test Positive For Drugs Go to Jail?

Tennessee's law criminalizing drug use during pregnancy arbitrarily heaps punishment on reviled women.

Jacob Sullum | 7.16.2014

Should We Treat Juvenile Defendants as Adult Criminals?

Two cases from Virginia raise troubling questions.

A. Barton Hinkle | 7.16.2014

Putin's New Old Russia

Moscow returns to authoritarianism at home and aggression abroad.

Cathy Young | 7.16.2014

America's Unsustainable Long-Term Debt Trajectory

Peter Suderman | 7.15.2014

Foreign Kids, Heartless Nativism, and America's Huckleberry Finn Problem

Nativist demands to deport kids appeal neither to America's humanity nor to its commitment to limited government.

Shikha Dalmia | 7.15.2014

Democratic Accountability Made as Simple as an App

The California Report Card is a growing, grassroots tool for individual citizens to make their government officials listen.

Zenon Evans | 7.15.2014

Why the Rand Paul-Rick Perry Feud Over Iraq Is Good for U.S. Policy

"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican" has been suspended.

Gene Healy | 7.15.2014

Cop Tries to Shoot Dog, Plugs Kid Instead. Police Use of Passive Voice Ensues.

J.D. Tuccille | 7.15.2014

Obama Administration Defends 'Almost-Orwellian' NSA in Federal Court

Damon Root | 7.15.2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio Sends a Video Love Letter to the Teachers Union. Kids and Taxpayers Get Jilted.

Jim Epstein | 7.15.2014

What Libertarianism Isn't

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 7.13.2014

The $2 Million Teacher

Teachers Pay Teachers lets educators reassert their professionalism—and earn big bucks.

Jim Epstein | 7.15.2014

Glenn Beck Trucking Supplies to Border for Illegal Immigrants, Surprising People Who Base Their Opinions on Stereotypes

Ed Krayewski | 7.14.2014

Colorado's Governor Sees the Light on Marijuana Legalization

He opposed it, but now sounds cautiously optimistic.

Jacob Sullum | 7.14.2014

American Lives on the Line in Paul vs. Perry Foreign Policy Spat

And positioning for a presidential run, too.

J.D. Tuccille | 7.14.2014

The Latest Public-Sector Pension Scandal

The state-pension-industrial complex corrupts politics on multiple levels.

Ira Stoll | 7.14.2014

Turning Yourself Into a Surveillance Camera May be Perfectly Legal

Sousveillance as a constitutional right.

Jerry Brito | 7.14.2014

Dear Liberals, Stop Freaking Out About the Supreme Court

Freedom isn’t so dangerous.

A. Barton Hinkle | 7.14.2014

How to Talk to Nonlibertarians

What libertarians have to explain to the politically disengaged and uninformed

Sheldon Richman | 7.13.2014

The Real Failures of Immigration Policy

We can send them home, but that won't mean we've seen the last of them.

Steve Chapman | 7.14.2014

Obamacare: The Story So Far

A linktastic round-up of Reason's coverage of the president's health care law

Peter Suderman | 7.01.2014

Lawsuit Against USDA Says Authoritarian Cherry Board Is the Pits

A lawsuit shines a light on a USDA-created board that controls supply, says you can't sell tart cherries without board permission.

Baylen Linnekin | 7.12.2014

Hillary's Wealth Is Her Greatest Achievement

In Clinton's career, money is the only metric that features any success.

David Harsanyi | 7.11.2014

Mom Charged for Letting Her Daughter, 11, Wait in Car

Everything is dangerous when it comes to kids. Even a normal wait in a car.

Lenore Skenazy | 7.11.2014

Millennials Think Government Is Inefficient, Abuses Its Power, and Supports Cronyism

But young Americans also want government to guarantee health insurance and living wages; plan to vote for Democrats in 2014 and 2016

7.10.2014

Do Gun Owners Have Any Rights Which Liberals Are Bound to Respect?

Opponents of gun rights underestimate what's at stake.

Brian Doherty | 7.09.2014

Immigrants Are Less Criminal Than Native-Born Americans

Maybe they should be afraid of us.

Ronald Bailey | 7.11.2014

Obama Administration Choking Off Student Loans, Which Is Good News

For-profit schools get deserved flak, but the public universities lock kids into years of debt, too.

Steven Greenhut | 7.11.2014

Let the Kids Stay: The Drive to Deport Unaccompanied Minors, Refugees of America's Drug War, is Immoral

Shikha Dalmia | 7.11.2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Blockbuster With a Brain

Director Matt Reeves elevates the Big Summer Movie into something worth thinking about.

Kurt Loder | 7.11.2014

Senate Judiciary Committee Backs Constitutional Amendment to Restrict Free Speech

Damon Root | 7.10.2014

Did I Accidentally Prove that Obamacare is a Success?

Peter Suderman | 7.10.2014

Friday Funnies: Statue of Go Away

Henry Payne | 7.11.2014

3 Ridiculous Ways the FDA Is Policing Social Media

In the FDA's world, Facebook likes are advertising and honey is a "new drug" that must be regulated.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 7.10.2014

64 Percent of Millennials Favor a Free Market Over a Government-Managed Economy

Emily Ekins | 7.10.2014

Kickstarting John Galt

A behind-the-scenes look at the third and final Atlas Shrugged movie

Brian Doherty | 7.10.2014

Secrecy, the No-Fly List, and Concealed Weapons

Even if you don't care about personal liberties, these systems are programmed to malfunction.

Steve Chapman | 7.10.2014

See a Kid in a Car? Get Out Your Crowbar and Start Smashing, Says New Law

Lenore Skenazy | 7.10.2014

53% of Millennials Would Vote for a Socially Liberal, Fiscally Conservative Candidate

Emily Ekins | 7.10.2014

The Millennials: The Politically Unclaimed Generation

They have the potential to become the most socially tolerant, fiscally responsible generation in the nation's history.

Emily Ekins | 7.10.2014

900,000 Innocents Subjected to NSA Scrutiny

The violations of our rights are obvious, undenied, and undeniable.

Andrew Napolitano | 7.10.2014

Cops Want to Give Teen an Erection and Photograph It... You Know, For Evidence

Good grief, how many pictures of a teenage boy's penis does one police department need?

Robby Soave | 7.09.2014

Guess Who Doesn't Want to Impeach Obama?

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 7.09.2014