Chinese Censors Target a Textbook
In China, 27 people were punished for their involvement in producing math textbooks that featured drawings of a child sticking his tongue out and making a peace sign.
Latest
Brickbats: October 2022
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
Missouri Libertarian Party Declines To Endorse Marijuana Legalization Initiative
Despite opposing the drug war, and indicating that he will even vote for the measure himself, the state LP's chairman said the initiative would not get the party's stamp of approval.
An Iowa Jury Awards $12 Million in Damages to a Man Who Was Wrongly Imprisoned for Sexual Abuse
A former guidance counselor served six years of a 25-year sentence thanks to a public defender's incompetence.
The Woman King Rewrites History for a Feminist Twist on the Slave Trade
Hollywood often takes liberties. But there's a distinction to be made between poetic license and historical revisionism.
Bill Introduced To Bring Independent Oversight to Federal Prison System
The Federal Prison Oversight Act would create an independent ombudsman to investigate complaints about the Bureau of Prisons, something prison advocacy groups have long called for.
Teenage Girl Killed in Police Shootout With Her Dad in California Desert
Media outlets repeated police speculation that she might have been involved, but investigators now say she was likely unarmed.
Guns Aren't a Public Health Issue
A deeply flawed documentary by the gray lady unwittingly makes the case for why the CDC shouldn't be studying gun violence.
Federal Judge Decides Safe Deposit Boxes Aren't Safe From FBI
Judge Gary Klausner admits that the FBI probably hid their true motives in rifling through the contents of hundreds of safe deposit boxes, but says that's fine.
California's Housing Crisis Hasn't Spared the State's College Students
A new law would make it harder for NIMBY neighbors to obstruct new dorms with bogus environmental complaints.
Artificial Intelligence Will Change Jobs—For the Better
Rather than being replaced by A.I., humans should plan to work with it.
Don't Use Immigrants as Political Pawns
The best rebuke to the Biden administration's inhumane border policies is for Republican governors to welcome migrants into their states.
Netflix's Athena Is a Masterpiece About Police Violence and Social Unrest
A technically astounding film that turns a French housing block into a political warzone.
Who Sabotaged the Nord Stream Pipelines?
Plus: Gov. Ron DeSantis gets accused of fair-weather fiscal responsibility, warrantless drone searches might be illegal, and Lizzo's flute playing sparks a fake controversy.
Mandated Diversity Statement Drives Jonathan Haidt To Quit Academic Society
Prominent social psychologist and NYU professor calls the requirement “explicitly ideological.”
Review: Barack Obama and Adam Conover Want To Shift the Blame for Government Failures
Netflix's The G Word tries and fails to restore faith in big government.
Review: Is Prison for Rehabilitation or Punishment?
High recidivism rates are not surprising when life in prison features the same factors that drive crime.
Italy's Return to Fascism?
Watch a recording of the livestream with Jonah Goldberg, Nick Gillespie, and Zach Weissmueller.
Zoning Laws Make Child Care Unaffordable in Utah
Child care centers should have the same development flexibility as charter schools.
The University of Idaho Tries To Force Faculty To Remain 'Neutral' on Abortion
The policy, released this week, places unconstitutional prohibitions on faculty speech.
Feds Allow Single Foreign Ship To Deliver Fuel to Hurricane-Ravaged Puerto Rico
It’s only one vessel, but the U.S. domestic shipping cartel, protected by the awful Jones Act, is screaming about it.
FDA Admits Vaping Is Safer Than Smoking But Refuses To Correct the Record
Don’t expect a change in course, despite the long-awaited admission.
Public Schools Experiencing 'White Flight'
Whether in response to pandemic closures or policy changes made in the name of "equity," people classified as white are fleeing government-run K-12 in startling numbers.
The Government Should Be Pro-Market, Not 'Pro-Business'
Businesses are all in favor of competition, tax cuts, and deregulation only until they aren't—meaning only until subsidies might benefit them.
Government Subsidies Encouraged Millions To Move Into Hurricane Ian's Destructive Path
Plus: Reason livestream on right-wing populism, the government can't solve the fentanyl crisis, and more...
American Elections Are a Mess, and They Always Have Been
The long, weird history of partisan electoral shenanigans
Photo: The TSA's Liquid Haul
The TSA at Syracuse Hancock International Airport showed off their loot of confiscated items over a three-day period.
Should Libertarians Root for the Abolition of Police and Prisons?
Libertarians have some common ground with the abolitionists—but if they insist on anti-capitalism as a litmus test, abolitionists will find themselves isolated and marginalized.
YouTube Says Giorgia Meloni Video Was Removed in Error, Restores It After Inquiry
"Upon careful review, we determined this video is not violative of our Community Guidelines and have reinstated it," said a YouTube spokesperson.
1st Amendment Protects Activist Recordings of Factory Farms, Rules Federal Judge
While animal-rights activists still risk trespassing charges, the state of Iowa cannot make it illegal to record while trespassing on private property.
A Parodist Asks SCOTUS To Let Him Sue the Cops Who Arrested Him for Making Fun of Them
The 6th Circuit ruled that qualified immunity prevented Anthony Novak from vindicating his First Amendment rights.
Russ Roberts: Why Economists Suck at Explaining Life
The EconTalk host and Wild Problems author talks about the limits of cost-benefit analyses.
How Should Libertarians Think About Ron DeSantis?
Reason's Zach Weissmueller and the New York Post's Karol Markowicz talk about life under the most controversial governor in America.
Ford Rolls Out Gas-Guzzlers To Fund Its Green Energy Ambitions
While that might seem backward, even the most worthwhile green energy goals will require some level of trade-off if they are to be achieved.
IRS Sent $1.1 Billion in Child Welfare Payments to the Wrong People
Possibly the federal government's most efficient pandemic spending effort.
Migrant Kids in Biden Administration's Tent Camp Faced Distress and Panic Attacks Because of Dysfunction
An inspector general report found poor staff training led to children languishing for weeks in an emergency tent shelter inside an Army base in Texas last year.
School Choice Is Winning in Arizona—and Beyond
"There's a new special interest group in town: parents."
Environmentalists, Senate Republicans Unite to Kill Joe Manchin's Plan to Streamline Environmental Review
The West Virginia senator had proposed a series of exceedingly modest tweaks designed to speed up the yearslong environmental review process for new energy projects.
Biden Declares War on 'Junk Fees,' but There's (Thankfully) Not Much He Can Do About Them
Plus: Lessons from the recovered memory movement, Texas fights to keep young adults from owning handguns, and more...
No, That Isn't 'Rainbow Fentanyl' in Your Kid's Candy Stash
"I'm skeptical that [dealers] would try to target children where there is not an existing market," says Sally Satel.
President Biden Lies About Guns. Again.
Amidst official hysteria over “misinformation,” the president continues to willfully misrepresent the facts on firearms.
Trump's Declassification Claims Are Implausible and Irrelevant
The potential crimes that the FBI is investigating do not hinge on the current classification status of the records that the former president kept at Mar-a-Lago.
The Iranian Protests Were Not Made in the U.S.A.
The onerous sanctions regime carried out by the Trump and Biden administrations has done immeasurable harm in Iran.
Biden's Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Plan Now Estimated To Cost $400 Billion
According to a new report for the Congressional Budget Office, student loan debt forgiveness will likely completely wipe out gains made by the Inflation Reduction Act—and then some.
