Congress Does Not Come Back With a Warrant

Plus: A listener asks the editors for examples of tasks the government does well (yikes).

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Congress Does Not Come Back With a Warrant

In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman contextualize Iran's retaliatory strike against Israel before bemoaning the recent vote in Congress on the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

02:20 - Iran's retaliatory strike on Israel

13:05 - House votes to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA.

29:21 - Weekly Listener Question

42:00 - Arizona Supreme Court rules on law that would ban nearly all abortions.

47:23 - This week's cultural recommendations

Mentioned in this podcast:

"Iran Attacks Israel," by Liz Wolfe

"Biden Sends U.S. Forces To Protect Israel's Borders for the First Time Ever," by Matthew Petti

"What's the Root Cause of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?" by Eli Lake and Jeremy Hammond

"After Hamas Attack, There Are No Good Options in the Middle East," by Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman

"The Iranian Coup that Led to 67 Years of Reckless Intervention," by Nick Gillespie

"Come Back With a Warrant," by Eric Boehm

"Biden Hints at Freedom for Julian Assange," by J.D. Tuccille

"Edward Snowden: The Individual Is More Powerful Today Than Ever Before," by Nick Gillespie

"'Selective Surveillance Outrage' and 'Situational Libertarianism' Isn't Good Enough, Congress!" by Nick Gillespie

"Why We Get the Police State We Deserve—and What We Can Do to Fix That," by Nick Gillespie

"Supreme Court Says Officials Who Block Critics on Social Media Might Be Violating the First Amendment," by Jacob Sullum

"Everyone Agrees Government Is a Hot Mess. So Why Does It Keep Getting Bigger Anyway?" by Nick Gillespie

"In Defense of Roe" by Nick Gillespie

"Abortion & Libertarianism: Nick Gillespie, Ronald Bailey, Mollie Hemingway, & Katherine Mangu-Ward"

"Trump's Abortion Stance Is Convenient, but That Does Not Mean He's Wrong," by Jacob Sullum

"What Leaving Abortion Up to the States Really Means," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

"William F. Buckley, RIP," by Jacob Sullum

"Radical Squares," by Nick Gillespie

"FDR: A One-Man Show," by Chris Elliott

"The Big Guy's Last Drink," by Peter Suderman

The Libertarian Moment, UFC300 edition (Renato Moicano invokes Mises)

Send your questions to [e-mail]. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

Today's sponsor:

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Audio production by Ian Keyser

Assistant production by Hunt Beaty

Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

• Producer: Hunt Beaty

What are we consuming this week?

Peter Suderman

• Civil War

Nick Gillespie

• The Incomparable Mr. Buckley

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Juicy Marbles Bone-In Ribs

Matt Welch

• Hyde Park on Hudson

---

Comments

[Rev Arthur L kuckland]

The goverment is really good at:
insider trading

Killing/imprisoning political dissadints if they don't support the globalists

Running cover for pedofiles

Running terrorist campaigns against its own people

Steeling money

[VULGAR MADMAN]

All of these things will be defended by Reason if the right people are doing them.

[mad.casual]

Steeling money

[squints]

“Steeleing elections” + “Stealing money” = “Steeling money”

[mtrueman]

Maybe the best thing the government is good at is gathering an keeping records and statistics. Births, deaths, economic and employment and so on. We know their quality because Reason, the rest of the media and the private sector regularly refer to them and use them.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""Maybe the best thing the government is good at is gathering an keeping records ""

Then why do they fail so many audits?

[mtrueman]

"Then why do they fail so many audits?"

Americans are very lax when it comes to demanding accountability from government officials. At least we can console ourselves that auditors are willing to do their job honestly and fail the audits they find lacking.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

The one thing the government is good at is lying to you.

[mtrueman]

The reporters in this podcast, those who asked the question, routinely use statistics from the government. What's the population of the US? Where did you get that figure? Does it differ from the figure the government publishes? Government statistics gathering is even mentioned in the constitution.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Plus: A listener asks the editors for examples of tasks the government does well (yikes).

See, that's the thing. The government does way too much and nearly all of it, it does badly. Frankly, I think it is the poor service that is driving much of the discontent with government, more so than anger over the huge unwarranted scope of government.

For example, the government should not be in the train business. Train service should be privatized as of yesterday. But, imagine if the government provided train service that didn't suck? I think there would be a lot fewer people angry and upset at the government, because at least they would be thinking that they were getting something closer to the value that they expected from their tax money.

It is ironic - the government has it within its power to improve its image and reputation (non-coercively) by actually proving to taxpayers that they are offering services of value. But they can't do that because they suck so bad.

[Night Watchman]

And they suck so bad because they have no incentive to actually improve. The people in high positions are only concerned with reelection; the people who run the day to day don't benefit from improving.

I don't know that they actually COULD improve. I do know that there are plenty of people who want more government control, because they think it will be getting something for nothing.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Everything government touches turns to crap - Ringo Starr

He gets it.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""Congress Does Not Come Back With a Warrant""

Of course not. They did not want the Trump treatment from the IC.