Absolute Immunity Puts Prosecutors Above the Law
By giving powerful law enforcement officials absolute immunity from civil liability, the Supreme Court leaves their victims with no recourse.
January 2023
In Defense of Algorithms
They're good for us. They might even be good for democracy.
Features
Governments Scramble To Manage, Regulate, and Throttle Crypto
Most dangerously of all, they're starting to make their own central bank digital currencies.
Pandemic Repairs Were Supposed To Put D.C. Metro Back on Track. Then It Literally Went Off the Rails.
Putting the district's train system back on track will take more than better bureaucracy.
Interview
John Cleese on How Wokeness Smothers Creativity
The Monty Python legend on giving offense and getting laughs
Topics
The Labor Market Is Broken
Employment is an ultimatum game, where playing along might get workers less than employers, but refusing to play gets everyone zero.
The Inflation Shield?
The Producer Price Index shows that grocery stores appear to be shielding consumers from inflation, not hiking prices to gouge Americans.
Biden's 'Marijuana Reform' Leaves Prohibition Untouched
While Biden issued pardons and ordered a review of marijuana's Schedule I status, he still supports the federal ban on weed.
This Teen Was Acquitted of Killing His Accomplice. He Was Punished for It Anyway.
Seventeen retired federal judges, appointed by both Republicans and Democrats, filed a brief supporting his appeal.
Republicans Will Have To Rely on New Deal–Era Court Precedents If They Want a Federal Abortion Ban
The Supreme Court said in 1942 that local activity, not just interstate activity, was subject to congressional regulation.
One Foot off the Grid, Where We Don't Have To Deal With the City Water Department
Living without government services isn't necessarily cheaper or easier, but it sure beats putting up with municipal bureaucracies.
Biden's Loan Forgiveness Plan Ultimately Means Higher Costs for Higher Ed
If political pressure to forgive debt can work once, why wouldn't it work again every five or 10 years?
California's Ban on Gas-Powered Cars Could Wreak Havoc on Its Energy Grid
If all Californians bought E.V.s tomorrow, it would be a nightmare.
America Needs 'Low-Skilled' Workers
Yes, America benefits from immigrants who can write code. But we also need ones who can swing hammers.
Against Game of Thrones Christianity
To truly care about virtue is to recognize that it matters how you win: Ends don't justify means.
Puerto Rico Inches Toward Self-Determination
"At this point, it is pretty much a fact that Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States," says one observer.
Culture
Stop Spazzing Out About 'Spaz'
Social media, streaming, and a new era of digital self-censorship
Books
Psychiatrists Do Not Know What They Are Treating
The mysteries of the mind are harder to unravel than psychiatrists pretend.
How Venture Capital Made the Future
Sebastian Mallaby's The Power Law explores how venture capital and public policy helped shape modern technology.
Reviews
Review: D.C.'s Planet Word Museum Celebrates Language
Libertarians should recognize language as a quintessential example of spontaneous order.
Review: In Defense of Cultural Appropriation on The Great British Baking Show
For the first time, The Great British Baking Show's three best bakers are immigrants to the U.K.
Review: Buckminster Fuller Helped Inspire Our Future
The new book Inventor of the Future prefers to show him as a credit hog.
Review: Try and Fail To Build a Virtual City in Sim Nimby
Eventually the player realizes nothing is getting built and quits.
Review: Why Does the CIA Need a Podcast?
The director worries that the public doesn't trust his spy agency.
Review: When Americans Turned Their Backs on Holocaust Refugees
The U.S. and the Holocaust condemns anti-refugee policies of the World War II era.
Review: Is Andor the Most Political Live-Action Star Wars Release?
Star Wars remains an epic tale of good vs. evil, but underneath the myth are ordinary human motivations.
ETC.
Keri Blakinger Is a Figure Skater and a Felon
"The most valuable thing taken away while in prison is time," says the author of Corrections in Ink.
Brickbats: January 2023
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
