Mike Johnson Is the Unlikely New Speaker of the House
Johnson is a relative newcomer to Congress who has never even chaired a committee, and he is a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
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Why Are College Kids Terrified?
Rikki Schlott and Greg Lukianoff discuss their new book, The Canceling of the American Mind.
Trump's Stooges Flip
Plus: Greta Thunberg gets booted from Israeli schools, Spain gets even less serious about work, regulating skyline views, and more...
'America Funded It': Rand Paul Blasts Fauci and the Media for Suppressing the Lab Leak Theory
The notion that COVID-19 came from a lab was once touted as misinformation. But now the FBI, the Energy Department, and others agree with Paul.
The Bipartisan Urge To Control Online Speech
Democrats and Republicans are united in thinking their political agendas trump the First Amendment.
The Best of Reason: True Crime Distorts the Truth About Crime
Popular podcasts and shows portray crime as salacious and sexy, failing ordinary victims in the process.
Trump, DeSantis, and Scott Want To Kick Out Foreign Students Who Protest Israel
Their proposal raises obvious free speech concerns.
New Jersey Police Have Waited Almost 2 Years To Expunge a Man's Criminal Record, Lawsuit Claims
Individuals are waiting months to have their criminal records expunged after court orders, according to a new lawsuit.
Joe Biden's Plan for 31 Subsidized 'Tech Hubs' Is an Old, Tired Idea That's Doomed To Fail
Presidential administrations from both parties keep trying to make "place-based" economic development work.
Ideological Screening
Plus: IDF releases footage from Hamas' evil rampage, cancel culture in Los Angeles, Iceland's ladies go on strike, and more...
How To Yell 'Fire' in a Crowded Theater
Aside from narrowly defined exceptions, false speech is protected by the First Amendment.
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.
What Joe Biden Got Right—and Wrong—Last Week in the Middle East
Plus: A listener asks the editors about mandatory maternity leave.
Government-Run Grocery Store Is Predictably Losing Money
The folly of government-run grocery stores is sadly not a historical relic like the USSR.
Lawmakers and Unions Defend Burdensome Airline Regulations With Bogus Statistics
The world's largest union of pilots says this requirement is necessary for safety and not unduly burdensome, but its data are misleadingly cherry-picked.
U.S. Faces Risks in Spreading Israel-Hamas Conflict
Americans are likely to be blamed no matter what happens.
Brickbats: November 2023
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
SCOTUS Will Decide When the Government's Social Media Meddling Violates the First Amendment
The justices agreed to consider whether the Biden administration's efforts to suppress online "misinformation" were unconstitutional.
Minesweeper, Solitaire, and a '90s Moral Panic
When computers came to offices, bosses found a new way to worry that workers were wasting time.
Is Javier Milei's Movement in Argentina a Cult of Personality in the Name of Liberty?
The stakes are high for this weekend's presidential election.
Did Evolution Give Us Free Will?
Author Kevin J. Mitchell makes a neuroscientific case against determinism.
He's Going to Prison for Twitter Trolling. That's Not Justice.
Douglass Mackey's case raised questions about free speech, overcriminalization, and a politicized criminal legal system.
Trita Parsi: Is De-escalation Feasible in the Middle East?
Parsi, from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, talks with Zach and Liz about the Israel-Hamas war.
SAG-AFTRA's Halloween Costume Rules Are Super Annoying
The union wants you to throw your Barbie costume in the trash, scab.
How Sidney Powell's Plea Deal Could Hurt Trump in the Georgia Racketeering Case
The election conspiracy theorist struck a deal that allows her to avoid prison by testifying for the prosecution.
After Losing Billions to Scammers, This COVID Aid Program Won't Require All Loans To Be Repaid
But that decision seems to violate federal law.
Will Electric Cars Disappoint Environmentalists?
Mark Mills and Rosario Fortugno debate the future of electric vehicles.
Who Is—and Isn't—Ready To Change Their Minds About the Gaza Hospital Blast?
The limits of "we just don't believe you" as a news-consuming habit
Jim Jordan Is Trying To Buy the Speakership With Tax Breaks for Wealthy Residents of Blue States
It's a maneuver that makes little fiscal, philosophical, or political sense, but thankfully it also seems unlikely to work.
In Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese Plumbs the Depths of American Depravity
A masterful epic from one of Hollywood's most important, most ambitious filmmakers.
Texas School District Backs Off Effort To Seize a 79-Year-Old Man's Home for Stadium Parking
The Aldine Independent School District had wanted the property as part of a $50 million redevelopment of its high school football stadium.
Crisis at the Border
Plus: Empty place settings for the hostages, Biden doxes soldiers, my own Yeltsin moment, and more...
Are Gavin Newsom's Presidential Aspirations Limiting His Progressive Instincts?
He insists that he's not running for president, but his vetoes of the fringiest measures suggest otherwise.
Odd Colorado Ruling Upholds Internet Keyword Search Warrant
Court says the warrant was “constitutionally defective” but grants police a “good faith” exception.
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.
St. Paul Passes Politically Practical, Economically Unproductive Zoning Reforms
Missing middle housing reforms are getting more popular. But they're not getting much more productive.
A Philadelphia Phillies Player's Family Is Getting Screwed by the Immigration System
If multimillionaire José Alvarado can't figure out how to get his family here, what hope do other Venezuelan migrants have?
Media Got the Hospital Story Wrong
Plus: Jim Jordan has no friends, an "antisemitic Burning Man festival" at Penn, Staten Island secession, and more...
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis Argue Who Is More Hostile to Refugees from Gaza
DeSantis says that all Gazans are anti-Semitic, while Haley feels that refugees should only go to "Hamas-sympathetic countries."
Disinformation Reporter Ben Collins Failed To Correct the Gaza Hospital Story
Perhaps the Walter Cronkite Awards ought to have slightly higher standards?
California Is Taxing Itself to Death
Since departees tend to be high earners, their absence threatens to wreck the state's swollen budget.
