Brickbats: January 2026
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world
Politics
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
Can J.D. Vance Stop a MAGA Civil War?
Plus: Debating marijuana at Turning Point USA, Massie and Khanna threaten Bondi with contempt over Epstein files, and Minnesota’s welfare fraud case.
Deplatforming Backfired
Progressive censors failed to suppress our political demons. It's finally time to confront them.
Heritage Foundation Undergoes Mass Staff Exodus as Cracks Open on the New Right
The divisions are no longer just between pro-Trump and anti-Trump conservatives.
Zohran's Inner Circle: Meet the Radicals on Mamdani's Transition Team
The new mayor's advisers include people who have praised antisemites and called for defunding the police.
Deplatforming Backfired
Progressive censors failed to suppress our political demons. It's finally time to confront them.
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
Jake Tapper on Terrorism, Executive Power, and Venezuelan Boat Bombings
"Once a president establishes for himself that he has a shiny toy, good luck getting that toy ever wrested away from whoever the president is," the CNN anchor tells Reason's Nick Gillespie.
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
White Male Discrimination Is the FBI's AI Data Center
Robby Soave and Christian Britschgi are back to break down another unhinged week in the news.
Was There a Woke War on White Millennial Men?
In Compact, Jacob Savage exhaustively documents discrimination in the name of equity.
Jimmy Lai Is a Martyr for Freedom
The self-made tycoon was convicted this week of violating Hong Kong's "national security" law. But he could have escaped it.
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Horseracing integrity, beneficial owners, and bills of attainder.
Trump's Designation of Fentanyl As a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' Is a Drug-Fueled Delusion
The executive order does not accomplish much in practical terms, but it jibes with the president's conflation of drug trafficking with violent aggression.
More Republican Socialism
The Trump administration has not made a convincing case for why it is buying stakes in these companies—and why these companies in particular, rather than others.
Cannavictory
Plus: Polymarket bets on when killers will be apprehended, how locking up phones saves high school, and more...
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
Hottest Country
Plus: Karoline Leavitt's injection sites, Dan Bongino leaves FBI, Tesla trapped, and more...
Jeff Flake on Free Trade, Immigration, and Trump's GOP
"If we're gonna put up immigration barriers, we better do a lot more in terms of trade barriers to make it more free trade, or we will decline," the former Arizona senator tells Reason's Nick Gillespie.
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
'Now We're the Hottest Country Anywhere in the World': Trump's Blessedly Pointless National Address
Trump announced neither stimulus checks nor war in Venezuela.
Happy Saturnalia
Another year of the the Volokh Conspiracy tradition of marking the occasion of this ancient Roman holiday.
Can't Buy Our Love
Plus: Child care affordability, Venezuela blockade, Israel's plans, and more...
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
Even Trump's Supporters Are Slamming His Post About Rob Reiner's Murder
The president failed a not particularly challenging moral test.
ISIS Gunmen
Plus: Universal child care polls well, DEI and generational dynamics, and more...
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
Shootings at Bondi and Brown
Plus: Chile elects a right-winger, Jimmy Lai gets convicted, midair collision narrowly averted, and more...
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
Nepal's Socialist Government Banned Social Media, So Activists Plotted a Revolution—on Discord.
The country's transition leader was selected not at the ballot box but on a 100,000-person Discord chat.
Open Thread
What’s on your mind?
