Examining America's War in Iraq After 20 Years
It was a blunder. Worse than that, it was a crime.
March 2023
How the CDC Became the Speech Police
Secret internal Facebook emails reveal the feds' campaign to pressure social media companies into banning COVID "misinformation."
Features
The U.S. Probation System Has Become a Quagmire
What was originally intended as an alternative to incarceration has become a system for mass state control.
Across the Globe, Government Health Care Systems Are Failing Us
By restricting private health care choices, the NHS and other beloved single-payer systems were doomed from the start.
How a Public Housing Project Became an Unplanned Neighborhood
A favela in southern Brazil shows the upside of an "invasive" urban form—and offers lessons for U.S. housing policy.
Interview
Rousseau, Malthus, and Thanos Were Wrong
The authors of Superabundance make a strong case that more people and industrialization mean a richer, more prosperous world.
Topics
Fusion Future, Fission Present
For the first time ever, researchers achieved "ignition" in a fusion reaction, meaning they created a fusion reaction that releases more energy than it consumes.
Government Keeps Meddling With Private Company Decisions
In the Twitter Files, every conversation with a government official contains the same warning: You can do it happily, or we’ll make you.
To See the Country, Road Trips Are the Only Way to Go
When you meet folks in their natural environment, it's easier to appreciate their differences.
Neil Gorsuch's LGBT Decision May Doom Affirmative Action in the Supreme Court
Why isn’t affirmative action in college admissions prohibited under the Civil Rights Act?
Kentucky's Governor Shields Medical Marijuana Users From Prosecution
Gov. Andy Beshear issued a conditional pardon aimed at protecting people who use marijuana for medical purposes from criminal prosecution.
Congress Formally Grants Federal Recognition to Gay Marriage
While same-sex marriage was already protected under federal law, that protection was afforded by the Supreme Court, not Congress.
Bringing the Child Tax Credit Back to Life Is Too Costly
Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation reported that a permanent expansion would cost more than $1.4 trillion over a decade.
Remembering the Great Pizza Funeral of 1973
Fifty years ago, dozens of people gathered in Ossineke, Michigan, for one of the strangest funerals in American history
Innovation Drives Down the Cost of Powering Electric Cars
Americans are increasingly buying electric cars. Electrochemists and their innovations will drive down the cost of powering them.
Ranked Choice Voting Won at the Polls in 2022
On a ranked choice ballot, voters can rank every candidate in a given race. Over time, that could lead more voters to consider candidates outside the two parties.
Culture
The GOP's Pitchfork Populism Is Older Than Trump
But it doesn't have to be the future of the GOP or the country.
Books
The Militant Pacifists of World War II
War by Other Means tells the story of those conscientious objectors who did not cooperate with the government's alternative-service schemes.
Libertarian History/Philosophy
The Founding Mothers of Libertarianism
Freedom's Furies tells how three women offered their own unique defenses of individual liberty and how their disagreements anticipated the differences among libertarians and classical liberals today.
Reviews
Review: Mastodon Decentralizes Social Media
Elon Musk’s shambolic takeover may not have been great for Twitter, but it was fantastic for Mastodon.
Review: Raising the Bar Brings the Cocktail Revolution Home
Jacob Grier and Brett Adams help aspiring home bartenders build a bar via a carefully sequenced collection of about two dozen bottles.
Review: Gangsters vs. Nazis Greenlights Meeting Speech With Violence
Praising violence as a response to speech we don't like is a hallmark not of admirable Americanism but of oppressive regimes like Hitler’s.
Review: Inside Job Reinvents the Workplace Comedy
The Netflix show ostensibly satirizes government control, but it is not made for anyone truly suspicious of government power.
Review: The Army of the Potomac Trilogy Brings Together Bruce Catton's 3 Civil War Chronicles
These superb books recount events from the viewpoints of both soldier and statesman, providing a greater understanding of the why and how of the Civil War.
Review: Mother Country Radicals Spotlights the Weather Underground
Perhaps unintentionally, this podcast holds up a mirror to the social justice movements of today.
Review: The Crown Pits British Tradition Against Reform
The lightly fictionalized historical drama shows that it’s hard for staid institutions to grow and change with the times, especially when they aren’t forced to.
ETC.
Hongkonger Anna Kwok on Human Rights
Right now, Hongkongers have lost their avenues to speak because of the national security law imposed by the new government.
Brickbats: March 2023
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
