America Wasn't Ready for Coronavirus
Early takeaways from the country's response to a pandemic
Culture
Sixth Circuit Temporarily Blocks Kentucky Governor's Limit on Drive-In Church Services
The court concludes that it likely violates the Kentucky Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Free Exercise Clause, chiefly because the Governor's order has many exceptions for various allowed services.
What Is Government's Proper Role in Reopening the Food Economy?
When it comes to the food economy, government should remember that workers and consumers call the shots.
A Woman Set Up a Little Free Pantry Without a Permit. The County Threatened Criminal Charges.
A civil rights lawsuit alleges that the government violated Kathy Hay's constitutional rights when it shuttered her free pantry.
Texas Is Allowing Restaurants To Reopen Starting Today. Many Restaurant Owners Fear It Won't Go Well.
"You can't exactly eat with a mask on, and I have a small space where people would be in close proximity to each other."
Freedom Is a Pandemic Casualty in Authoritarian Regimes and Liberal Democracies
Around the world, governments are taking advantage of COVID-19 to tighten the screws on their subjects.
Ugly Delicious
Is tahini salsa verde an insidious form of cultural appropriation or two immigrants from Oaxaca riffing on food traditions they love?
The Consequential Frontier
The "privatization" of space has already expanded the possibilities of the cosmos for all mankind far beyond what six decades of federal bureaucracy could.
On Biden Sexual Assault Allegation, Silence Then Hypocrisy
Plus: Backlash to Amash's presidential run, new SCOTUS cases, and more...
San Francisco's Economically Ignorant COVID-19 Response
If politicians really want to help citizens, they should brush up on the laws of supply and demand.
What 'Excess Deaths' Do and Don't Tell Us About COVID-19
While official death tolls clearly underestimate the epidemic's impact, total mortality numbers can be misleading.
Coronavirus Closures Make It Hard for Truckers To Get a Meal, Yet Some States Still Refuse To Let Food Trucks Operate at Rest Stops
The federal government has given states permission to open up highway rest stops to food truck service. Many are deciding to keep their protectionist bans in place.
De Blasio Threatens To Arrest Hasidic Jews for Congregating To Mourn the Death of a Rabbi
On the same day Brooklyn’s Hasidic Jews came out for a funeral, hundreds were gathering elsewhere in New York City to watch a military flyover.
Netflix's Extraction Is a Tolerable Substitute for a Real Summer Action Movie
It’s the Zoom happy hour of blockbusters.
Desperate Mayors React to Coronavirus: A Timeline
When social distancing means no gatherings larger than a reelection donor dinner.
The Executive Order on Meat Processing Doesn't Compel Companies With Sick Workers to Stay Open
Plus: Justin Amash seeking L.P. nomination, pandemic hasn't halted FDA war on vaping, and more
Alaskan School District Gets Rid of The Great Gatsby, 4 Other 'Controversial' Books
The Mat-Su School Board evidently doesn't understand the purpose of a school.
A Virus Makes the Supreme Court More Transparent
Unprecedented live audio streaming of oral arguments could signal more openness.
FDA Backs Away From Absurd 'Skim Milk' Legal Fight
Dairy industry-endorsed regulations required skim milk to be labeled as “imitation” if it hadn’t been enriched with added vitamins.
Michael Strain Wants You To Believe in the American Dream
The economy is broadly healthy and that it's benefiting nearly everyone—including the lower-income households who need it most.
Tara Reade Has New Evidence She Told Her Joe Biden Sexual Assault Story Decades Ago
"I'm for Biden, regardless. But still I have to come out and say this."
20 Years After Its Release, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Is Eerily Relevant
Link's adventure in a doomed world of masks and sorrows will resonate with gamers currently under coronavirus lockdown.
When It Comes to Covering Trump, The New York Times Has Abandoned Any Distinction Between Reporting and Opinion
Readers may be better served by a newspaper that is open about its reporters' opinions. But then it can hardly object when Trump publicly describes them as political opponents.
Tara Reade's Mother Allegedly Discussed Joe Biden's Abusive Office With Larry King in 1993
Why aren't TV networks grilling Biden about this?
COVID-19 Highlights the Harms of Bad Food Regulations and the Benefits of Lifting Them
People need to eat. Governments shouldn't make that harder than it has to be.
People Stuck at Home Are Making and Watching Porn. Everybody Panic!
Anti-porn crusaders get their panties in a twist about a uptick in porn consumption during COVID-19.
It's Not Fake News: Trump Did Actually Suggest That Injecting Bleach Could Be a Cure for COVID-19
The president added that the procedure is something "you're going to have to use medical doctors with."
Secondhand
Adam Minter's book reminds us that a lot of "value is created when less affluent people are given the opportunity to parse the goods of the wasteful affluent."
The Attorney General Defends Civil Liberties Against Overreaching COVID-19 Control Measures
While denying Donald Trump's dictatorial impulses, William Barr notes that public health emergencies do not give governments unlimited powers.
Shake Shack Received a $10 Million Small Business Loan. They're Giving It Back.
The company says it will return the money after it was announced that the Paycheck Protection Program ran out of funding.
Federal Regulations Are Making the Grocery Store Supply Crunch Worse
The FDA has relaxed some labeling laws in order to allow restaurants to sell groceries, but it could do more.
Will COVID-19 Help Americans Break the Habit of Deferring to Centralized Authority?
We may find that we like making our own decisions.
In Sweden, Will Voluntary Self-Isolation Work Better Than State-Enforced Lockdowns in the Long Run?
There’s a lot of debate over the Swedish model of coronavirus response, but there are good reasons to think a Hippocratic approach to policy may pay off.
COVID-19 Is Coming for Your Burgers
Plus: sensitive cellphone data swept up in coronavirus containment efforts, and more...
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The focus on seemingly minor everyday questions of propriety makes the show's 10th season as insightful as it is funny.
Elon Musk Donates Breathing Machines to Hospitals and the Media Pounces
No, they’re not frontline ventilators. Yes, they’re useful.
COVID-19 and the Collapse of Complex Societies
Sometimes pressure causes breakdowns, but sometimes it causes breakthroughs.
Trump's School Lunch Changes Lead to a Pointless Food Fight
"It's unconscionable that the Trump administration would do the bidding of the potato and junk food industries," noted one critic. But Trump's changes are relatively minor.
What The New York Times' 1619 Project Gets Wrong About Capitalism: Phillip Magness
In a new collection, the economic historian documents how classical liberals pushed for abolition and equality in 19th-century America.
