Science
Reason magazine
Trump, Who Freed Drug Offenders, Also Wants To Kill Them
DONALD TRUMP CAN’T seem to decide whether he wants to execute drug dealers or free them from prison. The former president’s debate with himself reflects a broader clash between Republicans who think harsher criminal penalties are always better and Republicans who understand that justice requires proportionality.
3 min |
November 2023
Reason magazine
The Bad Law That Made Good Bars
WHEN YOU STEP into the Raines Law Room at The William hotel on East 39th Street in Manhattan, you’ll find a series of tastefully decorated lounges. Softly upholstered chairs, tufted leather couches, and low-light sconces create an atmosphere that’s more swanky club or private living room than hotel bar. But although there’s a boutique hotel with a few dozen rooms above (rates run anywhere from $275 to well over $1,000 per night), the Raines Law Room is a bar.
5 min |
November 2023
Reason magazine
Q&A Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi is the author of four New York Times bestsellers. As Rolling Stone’s campaign reporter in 2016—and an early critic of how the mainstream media covered allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election— he concluded that political journalism was hyper-focused on the “pursuit of getting rid of Donald Trump.”
2 min |
November 2023
Reason magazine
Control Your Card-board, Control Your Life
SINCE ALBERT JONES filed his U.S. patent for corrugated paper packing material in 1871, cardboard products have played the cart to globalization’s horse. Cheaper and lighter than a crate and more protective than paper or straw, cardboard has made myriad goods affordable and deliverable to just about anywhere. From carrying glass vials of medicine at the turn of the 20th century to entire couches at the beginning of the 21st, cardboard is a linchpin of modern life.
3 min |
November 2023
Reason magazine
California Is Taxing Itself to Death
FOR DECADES, CALIFORNIA has been a desirable destination for Americans lured by the promise of riches, stardom, or at least a good place to surf.
2 min |
November 2023
Reason magazine
Markets, Misunderstood
A sweeping new book on the history of free market thought misses the mark
5 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
TRUE CRIME DISTORTS THE TRUTH ABOUT CRIME
In their telling, it was Kercher’s roommate, an American exchange student named Amanda Knox, who had killed the young woman during some sort of satanic sex game gone awry
10 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
THE PIRATE PRESERVATIONISTS
WHEN KEEPING CULTURAL ARCHIVES SAFE MEANS STEPPING OUTSIDE THE LAW
10+ min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
Africa's Planned Cities Need Unplanning
NIGERIA'S SLUMS AND STARTUP CITIES CAN LEARN FROM EACH OTHER
5 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
Private Tyranny' Is Less Private Than You Think
KIMBERLY NARANJO MAKES for a sympathetic protagonist. In childhood, she suffered abuse at home. In early adulthood, she struggled with addiction
10+ min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
HOW Hippies Saved the Fourth Amendment
THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION DID EVERYTHING IT COULD TO CURB ANTIWAR ACTIVISM. THEN THE COURTS SAID IT HAD GONE TOO FAR
10+ min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
Affirmative Action Loses in Court
THE END OF affirmative action in university admissions has been prophesied since 2003, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Grutter v. Bollinger. In the majority opinion, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that “25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today
4 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
Taylor Swift, Junk Fees, and the 'Happy Meal Fallacy'
WHEN AMERICA’S LARGEST ticket retailer announced plans to adjust its pricing structure, President Joe Biden was quick to claim credit
3 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
Subsidies Won't Stop Stagnation
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN is making a “big bet on place-based industrial policy,” writes Brookings Institution senior fellow Mark Muro
2 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
Civics in Public Schools Won't Fix American Democracy
ON THE CAMPAIGN trail in May, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy provocatively proposed raising the voting age to 25 for Americans who have not had any kind of civic experience, such as serving in the military or working as a first responder
4 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
America's Immigrant Brain Drain
THE UNITED STATES boasts more international students, immigrant inventors, and foreign-born Nobel laureates than any other country
2 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
Montreal: It's All French to Me
THE MONTREAL BIODÔME’S scarlet macaw named Bouton “will be deported to the Toronto Zoo next Friday after she only spoke English during a government inspection,” The Beaverton reported in July 2013
3 min |
October 2023
Reason magazine
Ben Smith's One Neat Trick for Going Viral
The Semafor editor and former BuzzFeed News editor in chief on the online media explosion of the 2000s
10+ min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
Be Like Pixar, Not NASA
Artificial intelligence poses the most risk when it is embedded in a centralized, tightly coupled organization. But it can facilitate decentralization too
10+ min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
Adam Smith Wasn't a Progressive
Stop quoting him out of context on taxation, education, and monopoly.
10+ min |
July 2023
Reason magazine
An Interview With Adam Smith No, not that Adam Smith.
On the occasion of his 300th birthday, Adam Smith—the Scottish Enlightenment luminary and so-called father of capitalism— was not available for comment, despite attempts to contact him via Ouija board and seance.
7 min |
July 2023
Reason magazine
Don't Tread on Pride Flags
What do Gadsden flags and Pride flags have in common?
10+ min |
June 2023
Reason magazine
SMALL-TOWN LIFE IS THE ANTI-TWITTER
WHEN I MOVED from New York City to rural northern Arizona, I faced two obstacles: my vocabulary and my manners. Spicy language and brusqueness were normal in the East Village, where I was unlikely to see many faces again. But they were impediments in a sparsely settled place where you run into the same people day after day. Life in a relatively rural area encourages nicer manners, so I learned to rein myself in
3 min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
FOSTER-PARENT RED TAPE HURTS FAMILIES AND TAXPAYERS
RULES FOR BECOMING a foster parent are meant to keep kids safe. But many of these rules make it needlessly difficult to find appropriate homes for children whose biological parents are unable to care for them
3 min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
THEY ARE COMING FOR YOUR GAS STOVE
IN MAY, THE Democrat-controlled New York State Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul inked a $229 billion state budget agreement that included a ban on residential gas stoves. By 2029, only electric ranges will be allowed in new residences
1 min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
COVID'S MISSING STUDENTS
DURING THE FIRST few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a staggering number of students went “missing.” Kindergarten enrollment rates dropped, and students already enrolled in classes failed to log in for online learning
2 min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
THE TOWN WITHOUT ZONING
CAN CAROLINE, NEW YORK, RESIST THE IMPOSITION OF ITS FIRST-EVER ZONING CODE?
10+ min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
THE DEA AT 50
FOR FIVE DECADES, DRUGS HAVE BEEN WINNING THE WAR ON DRUGS
10+ min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
Liberalism Isn't Rule by Elites
BUT PATRICK DENEEN’S “COMMON-GOOD CONSERVATISM” ALMOST CERTAINLY WOULD BE
10+ min |
August/September 2023
Reason magazine
WHEN TRADE WAR THREATENS REAL WAR
BIDEN IS BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN ECONOMIC POLICY AND MILITARY ACTION
10+ min |