Do Social Media Algorithms Polarize Us? Maybe Not.
A series of studies suggest it's not algorithms that are driving political polarization, ignorance, or toxicity online.
November 2023
Competition, Not Antitrust, Is Humbling the Tech Giants
The worst of the antitrust alarmism keeps proving untrue, as tech companies believed by some to be monopolies instead lose market share.
Features
Take Nutrition Studies With a Grain of Salt
The epidemiology of food and drink is a mess.
Comic: John Stuart Mill in 'Superliberal'
The English economist's unapologetic liberalism often drew the ire of other members of Parliament.
Interview
Mike Rowe Wants More Philosopher-Welders
The Dirty Jobs host on “essential” work, college, and the skills gap
Editor's Note
Love, Trade, and Force: The Machinery of Freedom at 50
David Friedman's anarchism doesn't have the answer for everything. That's the point.
Topics
Photo: Argentina's Libertarian Moment?
Self-described anarcho-capitalist Javier Milei shocked the world in August by getting the most votes in Argentina's presidential primary.
California Is Taxing Itself to Death
Since departees tend to be high earners, their absence threatens to wreck the state's swollen budget.
Control Your Cardboard, Control Your Life
Cardboard is vital to modern life. But what happens when it piles up?
Matt Taibbi on the Twitter Files, Julian Assange, and Donald Trump
"After Trump, everybody's tolerance for exploring different points of view kind of dried up," says the star Substack writer.
Cities Are Spending Absurd Sums on Modular Bathrooms
Philadelphia has budgeted nearly $2 million for the project.
The Bad Law That Made Good Bars
New York's Raines Law meant to crack down on drinking, but it instead gave rise to an industry of hotel brothels.
President Trump Freed Drug Offenders. Candidate Trump Wants To Kill Them.
The FIRST STEP Act signed by Trump eased drug sentencing. He's running away from that accomplishment in the 2024 election.
New York's Congestion Pricing Hits a New Roadblock: New Jersey
A market solution to heavy traffic is mired in an interstate legal fight.
Free the Meds: 5 Drugs You Should Be Able To Buy Over the Counter
The FDA is unnecessarily making your life more difficult.
Performing Charity Is a First Amendment Right
Houston officials say they'll keep fining activists for feeding homeless people, calling it "a health and safety issue."
The Georgia Case Against Trump Relies on a Dangerous Application of RICO Law
District Attorney Fani Willis’ preferred weapon wasn’t designed to be used this way.
Culture
Minesweeper, Solitaire, and a '90s Moral Panic
When computers came to offices, bosses found a new way to worry that workers were wasting time.
Books
Did Evolution Give Us Free Will?
Author Kevin J. Mitchell makes a neuroscientific case against determinism.
Inside a 20-Year Effort To Clean Up the Oakland Police Department
The Riders Come Out at Night frames it as a hopeful sign that police reform is possible.
Reviews
Review: Netflix Offers a Too-Lighthearted Take on Becoming a Cult Leader
Narrator Peter Dinklage takes viewers through a step-by-step process for becoming the next Jim Jones.
Review: They Cloned Tyrone Draws on Old CIA Conspiracy Theories
The political commentary in Netflix's sci-fi comedy isn't exactly subtle.
Review: Who Really Wrote Little House on the Prairie?
Did Laura Ingalls Wilder's libertarian daughter have an outsize role in crafting the beloved children's series?
Review: Not Everyone Liked the New Deal
Amity Shlaes anthologizes Franklin D. Roosevelt’s critical contemporaries.
Review: A Vampire Mockumentary Takes on Local Politics
“It’s really no surprise, the amount of energy vampires in politics," says a fictional candidate for Staten Island comptroller.
Review: Slow Burn Steps Inside the House at the Center of Clarence Thomas Controversy
A podcast about a man everyone already has an opinion about.
ETC.
Brickbats: November 2023
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
