Why Building a Lot of 'Affordable' Housing Is Bad News for Affordability
Cities become affordable when lots of new housing is built, not when a larger percentage of a small amount of new housing is made "affordable" by regulation.
Law & Government
California Schools Stay Open Despite Plummeting Enrollment
Ballooning costs and shrinking student populations have left districts facing financial crises, but political pressures have kept closures off the table.
Lawsuit Challenges Vermont Climate Program
Is the Climate Superfund Act unconstitutional?
Kamala Harris' Long Day
Plus: Evading congestion pricing, expelling Hondurans (and the U.S. military), and more...
Biden Strengthened the Refugee Resettlement System. Will Trump Undo It?
Refugee resettlements last year hit a 30-year high, but that progress is fragile.
Mike Johnson Is Speaker of the House. Again.
After a delay, Johnson secured the slimmest of majorities.
Rights and Wrongs of Chief Justice Roberts' Year-End Report on the Judiciary
Roberts identifies genuine problems, but little in the way of good solutions. He also sometimes overlooks ways in which the Supreme Court is partly responsible for the challenges the judiciary faces.
Will Thomas Massie Get To Pick the Next Speaker of the House?
The libertarian-adjacent congressman says he "definitely has no Fs to give now" and promises to vote against Mike Johnson.
Former Democratic Socialist Houston Judge Franklin Bynum Reprimanded by Texas Judicial Disciplinary Board, for …
what the board finds to be willful violations of the law, bias against domestic violence victims, and, among other things, having "selfie while wearing a 'Defund Police' t-shirt ... on his Twitter feed."
Helen Prejean: Why This Nun Is Fighting To End the Death Penalty
Billy Binion speaks to Sister Helen Prejean about her activism to end the death penalty, as depicted in her book Dead Man Walking.
How FDR Built the American Security State
Historian Anthony Gregory explains how liberalism can be used to build an apparatus of repression.
Final Farewells
Plus: What Biden regrets, Trump supports visas for skilled workers (or does he?), a major Amtrak screwup, and more...
RIP Jimmy Carter, the 'Passionless' President
The libertarian case for the late Jimmy Carter.
Hypocrisy on Bodily Autonomy at the DEA
Trump’s pick for federal drug enforcement was ousted for not respecting personal freedom. Too bad that that’s a job requirement.
California Gov. Newsom Speaks Loudly, Carries Small Stick
Newsom is a prototypical modern progressive governor whose pro-democracy tour of Southern states evoked more mocking than fear.
An El Paso Christian Charity Is Caught Up in Texas' Border Fight Against the Feds
Annunciation House feeds, shelters, and clothes immigrants. State officials say it's "systemic criminal conduct."
Congress Sanctions a Syrian Government That No Longer Exists
The Caesar Act was meant to punish Bashar Assad’s government. It’s now a serious obstacle to Syria’s reconstruction.
How FOIA Gave Rise to Government Transparency Laws Around the World
Flawed as it may be, the U.S. Freedom of Information Act became a model in transparency for other countries to follow.
White House Vetoes Bipartisan Bill to Create Needed Judgeships
It is apparently unacceptable that some of the new judges would be appointed by a Republican.
Even Without the Sex and Drug Allegations, Matt Gaetz's Nomination Should Have Been Doomed
The House Ethics Committee's findings, combined with Gaetz's lack of relevant experience, again raise the question of why Donald Trump picked him for attorney general.
Kay Granger, Like Joe Biden, Is a Symptom of America's Gerontocracy
The 81-year-old congresswoman has not voted since July, at which point she apparently moved into an eldercare facility.
Foreign-Born Religious Workers Are Trapped in a Green Card Backlog
Without a fix, churches and other places of worship could lose their clergy.
Biden Commutes Nearly All Federal Death Penalty Sentences
Biden preserved the death sentences of three mass murderers but commuted the sentences of 37 other federal death row inmates to life in prison.
Cancerous Politics
Plus: Taking gerontocracy to new heights, a real life Arc Reactor, Happy Festivus, and more...
A Decaying Joe Biden Underlines the Need for a Less Powerful Presidency
The power of the office is excessive, and we don’t even know who is wielding it.
Third Time's the Charm?
Plus: House Speaker Elon Musk, the value of the debt ceiling, and D.C.'s shut down specials.
COVID-19 Lockdowns Unleashed a Wave of Murder
Researchers find that pandemic policies sparked a wave of violent crime.
The Spending Bill Would Fund Censorship
Republicans should not give any more money to the Global Engagement Center.
Disaster Spending
Plus: A failed return to regular order, COVID-era spending scandals, and yet another city tries to shut down a local church's homeless shelter.
Taxpayers Outside Maryland Shouldn't Pay To Rebuild a Toll Bridge Inside Maryland
Part of the 1,500-page spending bill Congress is expected to pass this week would obligate federal taxpayers to fund the Key Bridge replacement.
The SAFE SEX Workers Study Act, a Bill Aimed at Ultimately Repealing FOSTA, Is Back
The bill is meant as a first step toward repealing FOSTA, the 2018 law that amended Section 230 and criminalized hosting adult ads.
Raising the SALT Cap Is a Gift to High-Tax States
Capping state and local tax deductions sparked a tax migration that rewarded pro-growth states. Raising the cap now would stall reform where it’s needed most.
Holiday Spending Spree
Plus: More funding for the "disinformation" censors, more fines for cashless businesses, the link between pandemic shutdowns and murder rates, and more...
Trump's January 6 Pardons Could Address Some Real Injustices
The president-elect makes valid points in highlighting potential abuses of prosecutorial power.
North Carolina Passes Sweeping Surprise Ban on 'Downzoning'
To the bewilderment of many, North Carolina's hurricane relief bill includes the nation's strongest property rights protections against new zoning restrictions.
Social Security Is Deeply Unfair. The Social Security Fairness Act Won't Fix That.
What is paid out to Social Security beneficiaries is not a return on workers' investments. It's just a government expenditure, like any other.
Biden's Messy Mercy
Plus: A listener asks the editors to consider the tradeoffs of involuntary commitments to mental institutions.
Senate Tees Up $200 Billion Social Security Giveaway to Public Sector Workers
The Social Security Fairness Act will boost payouts to public sector workers who receive pensions and did not pay taxes to support Social Security.
The Return of the Women's Libbers
Plus: Israel in the Golan Heights, trouble in China's government, Whoopi Goldberg tries to explain health insurance, and more...
Amanda Knox Tells Her Own Story
"Our criminal justice system relies upon our own ignorance and the fact that we don't know what our rights are."
Mark Meador's Nomination to the Federal Trade Commission Is Bad News for Consumers
Meador’s nomination is a win for antitrust activism and a blow to economic freedom.
Was the Supreme Court Wrong About Presidential Immunity?
Glenn Greenwald and Elizabeth Price Foley debate Trump v. United States and its implications for presidential powers.
Biden Shouldn't Have Commuted the Sentence of a Judge in the 'Kids for Cash' Kickback Scandal
But that shouldn't detract from the many worthy people who received commutations after spending years on home confinement.
