A Special Festivus Airing of Grievances from the Reason Roundtable Podcast
We've got a lot of problems with you people.
Though it sometimes feels here at Reason like every day is Festivus—at least the Airing of Grievances part, if not quite the Feats of Strength—it is also true that the Seinfeld-concocted holiday comes every December 23. That means two things: 1) the annual tweet-storm from Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) and, if it falls on a Monday, 2) a Festivus-themed episode of the Reason Roundtable podcast.
Nick Gillespie, Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Matt Welch huck darts at, among many other targets, last week's "bucket of garbage" budget deal, our brand new Space Force, Democratic presidential candidates, cigarette prohibitionists, presidential cultists, trade warriors, governor sons of governors, nu-trad-con manifesto writers, would-be campaign-finance regulators, politicians who can't stop yammering about baseball, and whichever alien force lives inside Nick Gillespie's mouth robotically dispensing Zardoz references. There's even a shocking twist or two near the end, so be here now until the final second, if time even exists.
Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor.
Music: "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies" by Tchaikovsky
Relevant links from the show:
"A Special Reason Festivus Airing of the Grievances: Podcast," by Matt Welch
"'Until You Pin Me, George, Festivus Is Not Over!'" by Jesse Walker
"Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding," by Jacob Sullum
"Bipartisan 'Bucket of Garbage' Budget Bill Contains $50 Billion in Special Interest Tax Breaks," by Eric Boehm
"Republicans, Democrats Agree to Dump $738 Billion More Into the Forever War and Space Force," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Even in Impeachment-Crazed D.C., It's Always a Good Time To Borrow and Spend!" by Nick Gillespie
"America's Forgotten Debt," by John Stossel
"Here's the One Book All the Democratic Candidates (and President Trump) Should Read," by Nick Gillespie
"Democrats Still Fundraising Off Citizens United, Still Wrong About What It Means," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Warren and Buttigieg Spar Over Who Has the Purest Donors," by Scott Shackford
"The Cult of the Presidency," by Gene Healy
"House-Passed Budget Deal Raises Age To Buy Cigarettes to 21," by Christian Britschgi
"It Wasn't Just a Chokehold That Killed Eric Garner," by Jacob Sullum
"This Week Is a Crucial Final Exam Capping the Second Year of Trump's Trade Wars," by Eric Boehm
"The New Trustbusters Are Coming for Big Tech," by Thomas W. Hazlett
"The Moral Scolds of the New Illiberal Right Are Coming For Your Internet," by Peter Suderman
"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to State Economy: 'Drop Dead,'" by Nick Gillespie
"The Five Faces of Jerry Brown," by Jesse Walker