Photo: When the City Says Your Boat Needs a Fence
The city of Seaside, California, ordered a man to cover the boat parked in his driveway. He offered a lesson in malicious compliance.
Latest
The Government's Permitting Regime Is Choking the Economy
Housing costs, job availability, energy prices, and technological advancement all hinge on a web of red tape that is leaving Americans poorer and less free.
Eric Boehm: Why Is American Health Care So Dysfunctional?
The host of Why We Can't Have Nice Things returns to discuss the podcast's second season, which focuses on how government makes Americans poorer and sicker.
Leave U.S. Steel Alone
Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and J.D. Vance agree that U.S. Steel needs to be controlled from Washington. They are all wrong.
Christmas in October? Maduro's Latest Ploy To Distract Venezuela
This latest stunt is nothing more than an attempted distraction from the country's deepening political and economic crises.
Kamala Harris Is Right To Back Away From an Electric Vehicle Mandate
Whether her reversal is sincere or politically expedient, Harris is right not to try changing people's driving habits by force.
A Federal Judge Says Carry-Permit Holders Have a Right to Armed Self-Defense on Public Transit
The ruling concludes that the government failed to show an Illinois ban is "consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."
Their Juvenile Records Were Supposed To Be Sealed. The NYPD Accessed Them Anyway.
According to a new lawsuit, NYPD officers have been illegally accessing sealed juvenile arrest records.
An Arizona Mom Was Arrested for Criticizing Public Officials at a City Council Meeting. Now She's Suing.
Rebekah Massie criticized a proposed pay raise for a city attorney. When she refused to stop, citing her First Amendment rights, the mayor had her arrested.
The Best of Reason: Project 2025 Is No Match for MAGA Dysfunction
Trump promised to hire "only the best people," yet his presidential plans were repeatedly thwarted by his staff. Will a second term be different?
Afraid of Rising Global Temperatures? Ditch Your Air Conditioner, Suggests New York Times Essay.
Depriving yourself of a modern luxury like air conditioning makes even less sense than banning plastic straws.
Hamas' Next-Level Brutality
Plus: Trump hush money case, assisted suicide prosecution, Tucker Carlson's Holocaust-denialist historian, and more...
Is Free Speech Doomed in Hong Kong?
Last week’s sedition conviction is yet another step backward for press freedom.
The Soft Totalitarianism of the Political Class
Officials pursue an anti-liberty agenda through unofficial pressure and foreign regulators.
This Activist Push To Destroy Dams Won't Save Fish—but It Will Waste Resources
Some politicians and environmentalists want to tear down Snake River dams in Washington state, even though they generate tons of electricity.
Bowing to Public Opinion, Trump and Harris Both Agree That Marijuana Should Be Legal
It remains unclear whether either would do anything about that as president.
How Should the U.S. Respond to Hamas Executing Americans?
Plus: A listener asks the editors, when it is right to revolt to stop repeated miscarriages of justice?
Should Airliners Be Forced To Fly Through War Zones?
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D–N.Y.) claims that airlines are engaging in discrimination and enabling price gouging by canceling flights to the Middle East without government permission.
Cornered Maduro Moves To Jail His Opponent
The arrest warrant against Edmundo González, the recognized winner of the contested Venezuelan election, only fuels the opposition's resolve against the regime.
Are You Living in San Diego's 'Worst ADU'?
Plus: The feds come for RealPage, a YIMBY caucus comes to Congress, and tiny Rhode Island enacts a big slate of housing reforms.
This Texas Woman Was Jailed for Her Journalism. Is She the Future of Media?
Priscilla Villarreal, known as "Lagordiloca," is suing law enforcement for violating her First Amendment rights. She is appealing to the Supreme Court.
A Very Tight Race
Plus: J.D. Vance shouldn't be near podcasts, Trump takes on marijuana laws, and more...
When Biden's 'Bubble Wrap' Burst
Will the liars and hacks who covered up Biden's cognitive decline face any consequences?
Trump Repeats an 'Urban Legend' by Invoking 'Fentanyl Laced Marijuana'
At least he draws the right conclusion from this imaginary hazard, acknowledging the dangers created by prohibition.
The Teamsters' Alliance With the 'New Right' Was Never Going To Work
Autonomous vehicle developer Waymo is at the center of a fight between labor unions and venture capital that's dividing the populist right.
Massachusetts Switchblade Ban Overturned on Second Amendment Grounds
The Second Amendment doesn’t protect guns; it protects the human right to self-defense.
Hanlon's Razor Is Getting Rusty in the 2024 Election
Don't attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Trump Doubled Down on Authoritarianism by Selecting J.D. Vance
The Ohio senator doesn't want to limit government power. He wants to use it against his political enemies.
Donald Trump Backs Florida Marijuana Legalization Amendment
Trump says the legislature should ban public pot smoking but that we shouldn't waste money arresting adults for possession.
California To Bend Last-Call Law for Elite Clippers Fans
If you want to drink alcohol in California after 2 a.m., it helps to be the billionaire owner of the L.A. Clippers.
Massachusetts Ex-Cop Charged With Strangling Pregnant Woman and Staging Her Death as a Suicide
Matthew Farwell allegedly murdered a 23-year-old woman who was pregnant with his child. Their relationship is said to have began when she was 15. He was 27.
Season 2 Podcasts
Trailer: Why We Can't Have Nice Things Season 2
A new season brings six new stories about how the government is making Americans poorer and sicker.
First-Ever Commercial Space Walk Delayed After Overcautious FAA Grounds SpaceX Rocket
The Federal Aviation Administration has called an unnecessary halt on launches following the Falcon 9 mishap on August 28.
More Babies!
Plus: Kamala Harris' big night, Japan ignores climate critics, Rio cops lose their minds, and more...
Gavin Newsom's 'Price Gouging' Shtick Is Running on Empty
Gas prices in California are exceptionally high because of the state's high taxes and anti-oil regulations, not because gas station owners there are greedier.
Hair-Braiding Business Denied Permission To Operate Over Fears of Competition
Since when do government officials get to decide that a market is “oversaturated”?
Review: A Satirical How-To Guide for Imperialists
Freedom "requires you to curtail freedom of speech and freedom of the press," the book declares.
These Democrats Want the FEC To Crack Down on Elon Musk's Grok
Seven congressional Democrats called on the FEC to stop deepfakes. But is there really much to worry about?
California Legislature Extends Exhausted Homebuyer Subsidies to Illegal Immigrants
There would seem to be little added fairness, and little added incentive for illegal immigration, in letting more people draw from a well that's already run dry.
Kyla Scanlon: What's Actually Wrong With the Economy?
Economist and author Kyla Scanlon discusses inflation, economic narratives, and the housing market.
