The First Crackdown on Indecent Recordings
Friday A/V Club: Anthony Comstock and the bawdy cylinders
History
The Accidentally Libertarian Western
Friday A/V Club: Harpoon battles six-gun in Terror in a Texas Town.
House Committee on Un-American Activities
The Life and Death of a Hollywood Blacklist
Sometimes censorship is a public-private partnership.
What Do You Get if You Cross Red Dawn with a Cooking Show?
Friday A/V Club: The wild world of low-budget survivalist videos
Libertarian History/Philosophy
Is Jonah Goldberg Turning Into a Libertarian? It Sure Sounds Like It.
The Suicide of the West author explains his anti-Trumpism, evolution on culture-war issues, and growing attraction to libertarianism.
Black Bodies, Radical Politics, and Rebellious Robots
Reading Zora Neale Hurston's study of the life of the last "black cargo" and watching Westworld
Before Drug Prohibition, There Was the War on Calico
In 18th century France, wearing the wrong fabric could get you in big trouble.
CBS Dabbles in America's Unusual Occult History in Strange Angel
Book-based bioseries delves into the life of a rocket scientist with a dark side.
'Eat Mor Krow' and Other Signs of a Dangerously Politicized America
Twitter's Jack Dorsey apologized for eating at Chick-fil-A. What does that have to do with Donald Trump? Plenty.
When the Political Became the Personal, Gay Rights Triumphed
How prosperity, AIDS, and pop culture changed people's minds
Interviews with Some of America's Oldest People—in 1929
Friday A/V Club: Americans born before the Civil War speak on camera.
Exclusive: Ronald Reagan's 1980 Election Eve Speech Draft Was Lost to History. Until Now.
In a speech drafted but never delivered in the waning weeks of the 1980 campaign, Reagan was to say: "The overriding question is not one of Left or Right. It is one of reversing the flow of power and control to ever more remote institutions."
When the Censors Came for Jack Johnson's Fight Films
Friday A/V Club: The boxer who just got a posthumous presidential pardon was a central figure in one of the first battles over movie censorship.
Russians and Reactionaries
The on-again, off-again flirtation between Mother Russia and the deplorables of Europe
Fight Hate Speech with More Speech, Not Censorship: ACLU's Nadine Strossen
Nick Gillespie talks to former president of the ACLU Nadine Strossen about the difficulties and importance of free speech.
When Cancer Was Conquerable
To win the war on cancer, we must recapture the bold spirit of the early days of discovery.
Hey Trump! The 1930s Called, They Want Their Trade Policy Back.
More than 1,000 economists (including Nobel Prize winners) have penned an open letter to the White House, warning not to repeat mistakes of the past.
Trump Withholds JFK Files, Again
Historians will have to wait another three years, and maybe longer, before they can get their hands on the rest of the government's assassination documents.
How We Lost Privacy
Today people are shamed for not sharing personal information about themselves.
'Mission Accomplished'? Maybe Ask George Bush About That.
Trump's Syria-related tweet once again betrays a terrifying lack of historical awareness.
Beware Censorship by Proxy
Prodding private companies into self-censorship is a dangerous government tradition.
The Radical Freedom of Dungeons & Dragons
Four decades after its creation, Gary Gygax's fantasy world of unbounded choice is more appealing than ever.
Steven Pinker Wants Enlightenment Now!
Pope Francis is part of the problem, nuclear energy is part of the solution, and libertarians need to admit that not every regulation will turn us into Venezuela.
Fear of a Free, Prosperous Internet
Big tech businesses serve America. Should we be alarmed?
Arthur Miller's Daughter Humanizes Playwright in New Documentary
Some controversial behavior connected to the Communist Party gets played down.
Sign Referencing Civil War Hero Is Sexual Harassment, Says Massachusetts Lawmaker
Rep. Michelle DuBois wants to remove a statehouse sign that reads "General Hooker Entrance" because it is an affront to "women's dignity."
When a Mash Note to a War Criminal Hit the Top 40
Friday A/V Club: My Lai's musical apologists
Philip Payton Jr.: The Crusading Capitalist Who Outwitted New York's Racist Landlords
Best known as the "father of Harlem," he was guided by the theory that free markets penalize bigotry.
The Death of Liberalism and the Life of Johnny Cash: Sirius XM Radio
Listen to Matt Welch interview authors on everything from Pittsburgh's Black renaissance to the worldwide hostility toward George Soros
The Inconvenient Individualism of Frederick Douglass
A bizarre New York Times piece knocks down a strawman.
Making the Fairness Doctrine Great Again
Media bias has been far less harmful than media regulation bias. That can seal off whole markets and make everyone who's left too nervous to speak freely.
The Libertarianism of Frederick Douglass: Podcast
Damon Root on how the famous abolitionist was also an outspoken classical liberal.
CNN's Patty Hearst Docuseries Shows Surprising Depth
Jeffrey Toobin's book on the kidnapped heiress was a mess. This telling is much better.
The Olympics Can't Transcend Politics. Just Ask the Nazis.
Sports, and sport broadcasting, can never be apolitical when nations are going head-to-head on the field of play.
When the Constitution Was 'At War With Itself,' Frederick Douglass Fought on the Side of Freedom
A new appreciation of the great abolitionist on the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Wormwood's Bad Trip Peddles CIA Conspiracies
The facts don't add up in re-enactment of famous LSD death of Frank Olson.
Split the Baby. Drink the Poison. Carry the Hot Iron. Swear on the Bible
How courts exploit superstition to uncover hidden truths
