ReasonTV
Bidens Plan To Stop Ghost Guns Is Doomed To Fail
updated
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Comedy Central
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Andrea Renault/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Eric Lee - Pool via CNP/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos/Newscom
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Andy Martin Jr./ZUMA Press/Newscom
00:00- The Morning After The Revolution
2:30- First sparks of the revolution
5:30- the working class victims of The Reckoning
9:37- BLM’s property empire
11:16- Bowles’ New York Times dispatch from CHAZ
13:40- Black and Asian White Supremacists
15:55- White women’s tears & DEI trainings
20:25- Dismantle capitalism, but not too urgently!
24:10- The Progressive Stack
26:01- Academic “Pretendians”
29:20- The Bon Appétit Cancellation Turducken
34:37- The Creation of Non-man
37:52- Woman: a submissive vessel?
42:40- The Current Thing Speedway
44:06- San Francisco: Progressive Libertarian Nihilism?
48:33- Nellie Bowles’ politics
50:25- Positive social change
54:17- Q&A
reason.com/podcast/2024/05/21/nellie-bowles-how-the-lockdowns-drove-us-crazy
___
Today's guest is Nellie Bowles, a co-founder of the immensely popular Substack publication The Free Press, where she writes TGIF, a weekly news roundup that has earned a fanatical following. She's also the author of the new book Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History, a deeply reported account of how America responded to COVID lockdowns and racial unrest in 2020 and 2021 and her tumultuous tenure at The New York Times.
#podcast #wokeism #media #newyorktimes
So the city charged her $250 per day. She stopped parking in the grass but no inspector ever came to check, so the bill kept growing. Tacking on fines for some other minor violations, the total grew to more than $165,000. #Florida #home #singlemom #propertyrights
Watch the full episode: youtu.be/3RW_WhYsguQ
---
Subscribe to the Reason Roundtable:
YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=B44SwI_PArk&list=PLBuns9Evn1w-1Dvaiy8KYsd1R-gn8CaDH
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w-1Dvaiy8KYsd1R-gn8CaDH
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/68EwVbYtTeNpQR6FCQt7yJ
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-reason-roundtable/id1155629323
Subscribe
YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Text and links to sources available here: reason.com/podcast/2024/05/23/ted-nordhaus-how-bad-is-climate-change
How bad is climate change?
People are freaked out by climate change, especially young people. Scientists for Nature conducted a survey of 10,000 16- to 25-year-olds in 2021 and found that 59 percent of them were extremely worried or very worried about climate change, and large majorities reported that climate change made them feel sad, anxious, and/or afraid. On Earth Day this year, President Joe Biden shared a picture on X (formerly Twitter) of himself standing next to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) with the caption, "Young Americans know that the climate crisis is the existential threat of our time. They deserve leaders who believe them."
Today's guest says it's time to stop catastrophizing. Ted Nordhaus is the co-founder and executive director of the environmental nonprofit The Breakthrough Institute. He recently published an essay in The New Atlantis titled "Did Exxon Make it Rain Today?" which argues that while climate change is a real phenomenon affected by human activity, "we're actually safer than ever before." He says a deliberate campaign of fearmongering and exaggeration about the effects of climate change has misled the public and damaged the credibility and effectiveness of the environmentalist movement.
Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:50 The Evolution of the Climate Change Narrative
00:05:23 The Political and Social Impact of Climate Change Rhetoric
00:14:57 Analyzing the Science and Misconceptions of Climate Change
00:23:46 The Economic and Societal Resilience to Climate Extremes
00:35:30 A Rational Perspective on Climate Change Anxiety
00:42:55 Human Migration Toward Climate Risks
00:44:50 Revisiting Predictions From An Inconvenient Truth
00:50:03 Addressing the Fear of Climate Tipping Points
00:55:39 Human Ingenuity and Climate Resilience
01:02:35 Carbon Emissions and Economic Growth
01:10:36 The Climate Movement and Public Perception
01:19:02 A Vision for a Focused Environmental Movement
00:00 - Iranian president dies in helicopter crash
16:46 - Drug Enforcement Administration's proposal to reschedule marijuana
34:59 - Weekly Listener Question
45:54 - Reason Weekend 2024
56:09 - This week's cultural recommendations
Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.
Today's sponsor:
Hello, liberty lovers! Are you passionate about preserving civil liberties and individual freedom? Do you want to support organizations that uphold these principles but struggle to navigate the complex world of charitable giving? Well, fear not! We have the perfect solution for you: a giving account with DonorsTrust. A giving account, also known as a donor-advised fund, is a simple, secure, and tax-advantaged way for libertarian givers like you to support the causes you care about most. With a donor-advised fund, you can make a contribution, receive an immediate tax deduction, and then recommend grants to your favorite charities over time. Plus, you retain control over how your charitable dollars are invested, ensuring they align with your values and goals. Whether you're passionate about defending free speech, protecting property rights, or promoting limited government, a donor-advised fund with DonorsTrust empowers you to make a meaningful impact. So, join us in preserving liberty for future generations by opening a donor-advised fund at DonorsTrust today. To learn more and get started, visit our sponsor, DonorsTrust, at www.donorstrust.org/roundtable. Take control of your giving and make a difference in the fight for freedom. That's www.donorstrust.org/roundtable. Remember, every dollar counts in the battle to safeguard our civil liberties. Let's make our voices heard together!
Audio production by Ian Keyser; assistant production by Hunt Beaty.
Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve
Producer: Hunt Beaty
Are the Palestine protests happening on public college campuses protected speech?
Encampments prevent other students from using the space, cause disruptions to campus activities and create a public safety risk. So no, they aren’t protected speech. You also don’t have a First Amendment right to protest wherever, whenever, or as loud as you want. You do have a right to share controversial statements and signs. #FirstAmendment #freespeech #college #palestine #protest
"It's astounding and note the circularity in his argument," says economist, historian, and author Phil Magness. "Every solution is just reaffirmation of [his] premise. And what it basically means is the complete abolition of any sense of financial privacy, of really any aspect of free and open market exchange."
Watch this full episode of the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtu.be/-ED2Dy2aRKM
Subscribe to the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9&si=wwHoBJ_fbQaXMtXy
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Watch this full episode of the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtu.be/-ED2Dy2aRKM
Subscribe to the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9&si=wwHoBJ_fbQaXMtXy
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Subscribe
YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Text and links to sources available here: reason.com/podcast/2024/05/16/phil-magness-who-really-pays-the-most-taxes
How much do billionaires really pay in taxes?
"Today, the superrich control a greater share of America's wealth than during the Gilded Age of Carnegies and Rockefellers," said Gabriel Zucman in a recent New York Times opinion piece entitled, "It's Time to Tax the Billionaires."
Zucman is an economist at the Paris School of Economics and the University of California, Berkeley, and a frequent collaborator with superstar economist Thomas Piketty, author of the extremely influential book on wealth inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
But today's guest, Phil Magness—an economic historian, author, and the David J. Theroux Chair in Political Economy at the Independent Institute—says the work of Piketty and his circle of inequality-obsessed colleagues is deeply flawed and sometimes outright deceptive. He points out that billionaires do pay taxes…a lot of taxes. And the inequality literature is riddled with errors and bad statistics.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Just Asking Questions: Billionaires and Taxes
01:38 Unpacking the Misleading Tax Rate Graphs
06:38 The Political Motivations Behind Misleading Tax Narratives
15:39 Analyzing the Impact of Tax Credits on Lower-Income Earners
22:32 The Real Tax Burden: A Closer Look at Wealthy Americans' Contributions
27:05 Countering Piketty's Inequality Data With Accurate Accounting
34:58 The Practical Problems With a Wealth Tax
40:04 Piketty's Inequality Narrative and Its Flaws
48:50 Global Financial Transparency and Taxation Proposals
54:40 The Moral and Economic Case Against High Taxation
57:48 Listener Q&A: Defending the Show's Title
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Fox Network
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Michael Brochstein Sipa USA Newscom
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: CNN
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Duncan Williams/Cal Sport Media/Newscom
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: MSNBC/ HO Newscom
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:03 What is Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)?
00:05:59 The Drug War is far from over
00:08:45 Don’t let politicians get away with empty legalization promises
00:10:45 What’s the best legalization model?
00:16:26 How do we activate the youth vote?
00:19:10 Harm reduction vs. prohibition
00:22:51 Drug education And safety
00:26:33 ALL of us are on drugs
00:27:17 The Rat Park Experiment
00:29:30 How to make safe injection sites Work
00:34:48 SSDP & psychedelics
00:40:50 Shifting attitudes toward drug legalization
00:46:45 Kat Murti’s career in drug policy
00:49:19 How to pursue drug policy wins despite polarization
00:51:19 Audience Q&A
#warondrugs #marijuananews #psychedelicscience #podcasts
reason.com
---
Today's guest is Kat Murti, the new executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the country's oldest and most influential student group challenging the war on drugs. Before taking the helm at SSDP, Kat was a longtime staffer at the libertarian Cato Institute, a founder of Feminists for Liberty, and an SSDP chapter head at the University of California, Berkeley, where she attended undergrad. Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with Murti about the role that young people in particular can play in ending prohibition, why marijuana has yet to be legalized at the federal level, and whether Donald Trump and Republicans or Joe Biden and Democrats are actually worse when it comes to drug policy reform.
This interview was taped live at an event cosponsored by The Psychedelic Assembly in midtown Manhattan.
reason.com/video/2024/05/14/a-new-law-is-making-it-even-harder-to-find-day-care-in-d-c
_______________________
Average toddler day care costs in Washington, D.C., exceed $24,000 a year, outstripping expenses in cities like New York and San Francisco. Despite the steep prices, parents such as Megan McCune and Tom Shonosky, who live in a suburban D.C. neighborhood with their children John and Lizzy, believe day care is still worth it.
"They're doing these amazing activities with kids. John's last teacher was planning just all these really stimulating, exciting experiences," McCune says. "That's just not something that we can feasibly do and also have full-time jobs."
But day care might soon become a luxury the couple can no longer afford. In 2016, a regulation was passed mandating that day care workers obtain a college degree. The city's logic is straightforward: If D.C.'s day care staff had college degrees, they could do a better job helping disadvantaged kids climb out of poverty.
"The developmental opportunities and those early opportunities that they have really set the foundation for their potential success long term," explained local education official Elizabeth Groginsky, a proponent of the regulation. After a delay, the rule was finally implemented in December 2023.
Yet contrary to its intended benefits, this regulation could lead to job losses among day care workers, increased operating costs for day cares, and higher tuition for parents.
Ami Bawa, lead teacher and assistant director at a nursery school in northwest D.C., exemplifies the unintended consequences of the regulation. Although she has been working in the field for over 20 years, Bawa may now be forced out of her job. "Even though I have a lot of experiential learning, I don't meet what is now the current standard," she explains.
As a veteran teacher, Bawa is technically eligible to apply for a waiver to continue working, but she's been waiting for five months for a response from the city. "All of these roadblocks make it harder. We're going to lose a lot of really good teachers," Bawa says.
Proponents argue that the regulation will earn teachers more respect and higher salaries. But Bawa disagrees: "A profession like teaching specifically has to be one where you really care for and love what you're doing. What your education credential is doesn't equate to loving and being committed to the field."
Yet the effectiveness of college requirements remains a subject of debate. As Robert Pianta, a professor of early childhood education at the University of Virginia, points out, "The evidence for a two-year degree or a four-year degree is not strong."
There are over 3,000 early childhood degree programs across the United States, and they vary significantly in terms of what they teach and focus on. "With all that variation under there, it's no surprise to anyone that the degree itself doesn't matter," Pianta says.
Many day care teachers eager to retain their jobs have enrolled part-time at institutions such as Trinity Washington University, a small college in the district. To earn the degree required to be an assistant teacher at a D.C. day care, students at Trinity can take classes like American history and music appreciation but aren't required to take courses in early education.
Councilmember Christina Henderson supports the idea that day care workers study subjects unrelated to early education, emphasizing the importance of "critical thinking and learning." In contrast, McCune remarks, "Let's just back up a little and remember that these are babies….I think the needs of children at that stage, they're pretty primal."
Nicole Page, a local preschool director, believes that "it does not only take education, it takes experience" to work at a day care. "That's what we will lose if we are not able to retain our staff, is the wealth of knowledge that they have by hands-on experience."
Her preschool is at risk of losing valuable staff, with at least 11 teachers failing to meet the new qualifications. One teacher even has a Ph.D. in family and children studies and is an adjunct professor teaching a policy and advocacy course for early childhood education at a local university, but she's no longer qualified to teach at a day care because her degree isn't in early childhood education.
"If we are not able to retain the staff that we have, we may end up having to close some of our classrooms," Page explains.
This regulation, intended to improve child care quality, may instead harm those it aims to assist. "I just think in D.C., there's a lot of bureaucracy," says Shonosky. "This is just another case where bureaucracy is going to make our lives worse."
00:00 - Desirable presidential campaign reforms
23:00 - Weekly listener question
33:20 - FreedomWorks is disbanding
49:34 - This week's cultural recommendations
Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.
Today's sponsor:
We all carry around different stressors—big and small. When we keep them bottled up, it can start to affect us negatively. Therapy is a safe space to get things off your chest—and to figure out how to work through whatever's weighing you down. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online. Designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and switch therapists any time for no additional charge. Get it off your chest, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/roundtable today to get 10 percent off your first month.
Audio production by Ian Keyser
Assistant production by Hunt Beaty
Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve
Watch this full episode of the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtu.be/HwdC9lJKzj4
Subscribe to the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9&si=wwHoBJ_fbQaXMtXy
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Watch this full episode of the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtu.be/HwdC9lJKzj4
Subscribe to the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9&si=wwHoBJ_fbQaXMtXy
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Watch this full episode of the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtube.com/watch?v=YYChKc8a7XE&list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9&index=2&t=2431s&pp=gAQBiAQB
Subscribe to the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9&si=wwHoBJ_fbQaXMtXy
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Watch this full episode of the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtube.com/watch?v=YYChKc8a7XE&list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9&index=2&t=2431s&pp=gAQBiAQB
Subscribe to the Just Asking Questions podcast: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w9K02WT8x-gzSI-UdeeXFG9&si=wwHoBJ_fbQaXMtXy
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
However, we did see a few bright spots. Some people engaged in respectful dialogue and we even saw guys on opposing sides fist bump in agreement. So instead of fight it out at the next protest, talk it out. #Palestine #protest #Seattle #UW #college #freespeech
Government employees and their office desks are never, ever, ever getting back together.
Watch all of Remy's Reason TV music videos here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL02D02B9A144182DB
Taylor Swift "Fortnight" parody written by Remy; performed by Remy and Austin Bragg; music tracks, mastering, and background vocals by Ben Karlstrom.
LYRICS:
Temporarily sent away but
They forgot to come and get me
A barely-functioning bureaucrat
Nobody noticed my new aesthetic
COVID's still a thing
Though that won't keep me from mid-day Soul Cycle
Meeting with our agency?
Expect to see three blank screens and Michael
Cuz every fortnight I am in the office one day
It is so hard working every other Monday
I click "leave-on-doorstep" but the
GrubHub driver rings my doorbell
I want to kill him
All my mornings are Sundays stuck in an
Endless commissary
If you ever try reaching us
The effects are pulmonary
And my phone rings it's ruining my life (I'm sick and it's ruining my life)
We come in one day every fortnight (You come in one day every fortnight?)
Cuz every fortnight I am in the office one day
It is so hard working every other Monday
In my backyard I have uncooked burger patties on the table
I want to grill them
I tried calling ya, but you don't pick up
Another fortnight lost in America
I tried calling ya, but you don't pick up
Another fortnight lost in America
Subscribe
YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Text and links to sources available here: reason.com/podcast/2024/05/09/nico-perrino-when-does-protesting-become-a-crime
What should colleges do about pro-Palestinian encampments?
College students across America are camping out to demand their universities divest all investments with Israeli-linked companies that they claim profit from the occupation and oppression of Palestine. It's gone on for weeks, and even administrators at schools known as bastions of progressive activism are finally getting fed up. Harvard's president is threatening "involuntary leave" for protesters. Columbia announced on Monday that it canceled its main commencement ceremony for safety reasons. The University of Southern California has, too.
UCLA called in the cops to clear its encampment, and police have arrested more than 2,100 protesters across all U.S. campuses since April, according to the Associated Press.
Congress has continued to interrogate Ivy League presidents, and a bill to explicitly define antisemitism for civil rights law enforcement purposes just passed the House with overwhelming support last week.
Joining us today to talk about the protests, the backlash, and what it all means for free speech on campus and the wider world is Nico Perrino, executive vice president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and host of the free speech podcast So to Speak.
Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher.
Sources referenced in this conversation:
Full Text of the Antisemitism Awareness Act
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism.
Columbia students define "divest"
Harvard President Garber Breaks Silence on Encampment, Threatens 'Involuntary Leave' for Protesters
Columbia cancels commencement amid campus protests
Map: Where College Protesters Have Been Arrested or Detained
Polling 1,200 college students on Encampments
What Americans think about recent pro-Palestinian campus protests | YouGov
Americans' Views of Both Israel, Palestinian Authority Down
Majority in US Say Israel's Reasons for Fighting Hamas Are Valid | Pew Research Center
Letter from judges saying they won't hire Columbia grads as clerks
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:33 Free Speech on Campus: A Conversation with Nico Perrino
00:02:13 The Historical Context of Campus Protests and Free Speech Debates
00:07:28 The Legal and Social Implications of Campus Encampments
00:31:38 The Role of Civil Disobedience in Campus Activism
00:38:31 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Campus Protests Through Polling Data
00:43:07 Congressional Involvement in Campus Free Speech Issues
00:50:48 The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2023: A New Legal Battleground
00:54:56 The Complexities of Free Speech and Political Expression on Campus
00:59:17 Navigating the Tensions of Privacy and Free Speech
01:03:42 The Role of Public Shaming and Cancel Culture in Free Speech Debates
01:20:03 Nico wants you to ask yourself this question about censorship
01:23:58 Just Ask Us Questions: A Libertarian's Evolving Stance on Immigration
reason.com/video/2024/05/09/the-government-fears-this-privacy-tool
---
The Department of Justice indicted the creators of an application that helps people spend their bitcoins anonymously. They're accused of "conspiracy to commit money laundering." Why "conspiracy to commit" as opposed to just "money laundering"?
Because they didn't hold anyone else's money or do anything illegal with it. They provided a privacy tool that may have enabled other people to do illegal things with their bitcoin. But that's not a crime, just as selling someone a kitchen knife isn't a crime. The case against the creators of Samourai Wallet is an assault on our civil liberties and First Amendment rights.
What this tool does is offer what's known as a "coinjoin," a method for anonymizing bitcoin transactions by mixing them with other transactions, as the project's founder, Keonne Rodriguez, explained to Reason in 2022:
"I think the best analogy for it is like smelting gold," he said. "You take your Bitcoin, you add it into [the conjoin protocol] Whirlpool, and Whirlpool smelts it into new pieces that are not associated to the original piece."
Smelting bars of gold would make it harder for the government to track. But if someone eventually uses a piece of that gold for an illegal purchase, should the creator of the smelting furnace go to prison? This is what the government is arguing.
Cash is the payment technology used most by criminals, but it also happens to be essential for preserving the financial privacy of law-abiding citizens, as Human Rights Foundation chief strategy officer Alex Gladstein told Reason:
"The ATM model, it gives people the option to have freedom money," says Gladstein. "Yes, the government will know all the ins and outs of what flows are coming in and out, but they won't know what you do with it when you leave. And that allows us to preserve the privacy of cash, which I think is essential for a democratic society."
The government's decision to indict Rodriguez and his partner William Lonergan Hill is also an attack on free speech because all they did was write open-source code and make it widely available.
"It is an issue of a chilling effect on free speech," attorney Jerry Brito, who heads up the cryptocurrency nonprofit Coin Center, told Reason after the U.S. Treasury went after the creators of another piece of anonymizing software. "So, basically, anybody who is in any way associated with this tool…a neutral tool that can be used for good or for ill, these people are now being basically deplatformed."
Are we willing to trade away our constitutional rights for the promise of security? For many in power, there seems to be no limit to what they want us to trade away.
In the '90s, the FBI tried to ban online encryption because criminals and terrorists might use it to have secret conversations. Had they succeeded, there would be no internet privacy. E-commerce, which relies on securely sending credit card information, might never have existed.
Today, Elizabeth Warren mobilizes her "anti-crypto army" to take down bitcoin by exaggerating its utility to Hamas. The Biden administration tried to permanently record all transactions over $600, and Warren hopes to implement a Central Bank Digital Currency, which would allow the government near-total surveillance of our financial lives.
Remember when the Canadian government ordered banks to freeze money headed to the trucker protests? Central Bank Digital Currencies would make such efforts far easier.
"We come from first principles here in the global struggle for human rights," says Gladstein. "The most important thing is that it's confiscation resistant and censorship resistant and parallel, and can be done outside of the government's control."
The most important thing about bitcoin, and money like it, isn't its price. It's the check it places on the government's ability to devalue, censor, and surviel our money. Creators of open-source tools like Samourai Wallet should be celebrated, not threatened with a quarter-century in a federal prison.
Music Credits: “Intercept,” by BXBRDVJA via Artlist; “You Need It,’ by Moon via Artlist.
Photo Credits: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/Newscom; Omar Ashtawy/APAImages / Polaris/Newscom; Paul Weaver/Sipa USA/Newscom; Envato Elements; Pexels; Emin Dzhafarov/Kommersant Photo / Polaris/Newscom; Anonymous / Universal Images Group/Newscom.
00:00- Noam Dworman Highlights
00:30- Introduction
01:00- Dworman's Thriving Comedy Empire
08:24- Go Neither Woke Nor Broke
12:28- Dworman's Free Speech Roots
18:58- Tipper Gore's Censorship Crusade
21:49- When Did the Left Turn Against Free Speech?
24:57- Don't Censor Anti-Israel Speech Either!
27:49- Comedy Culture IS Free Speech Culture
30:41- Dworman's Father: Feuding With Bob Dylan
34:51- Dworman's Podcast: Live From the Table
37:33- That Viral Philip Bump Episode
41:50- Noam Dworman's Politics
43:53- Comedy During COVID
47:21- Free Speech Isn't A Given In All Comedy Clubs
49:11- Bringing Back Louis C.K.
53:38- Hosting Norman Finkelstein
57:06- Open Debate About Israel
1:00:04- Contemporary Antisemitism In America
reason.com/podcast/2024/05/08/noam-dworman-free-speech-for-all-from-finkelstein-to-chapelle
---
Today's guest is Noam Dworman, the owner of New York's Comedy Cellar, the most influential—and controversial—comedy club on the planet. Dave Chapelle, Louis C.K., Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Chris Rock, Andrew Schulz, and many others not only broke out from this club, but they also regularly return to try out new material. Trained as a lawyer, Dworman is a staunch defender of the First Amendment and, in an era of groveling apologies and censorship on the down low, he remains outspoken on the value and importance of free expression to a flourishing society. His podcast Live From the Table has guests ranging from Israel critic Norman Finkelstein to atheist Sam Harris to former Reasoners Radley Balko and Michael Moynihan—and never has a dull moment. Nick Gillespie talks with Dworman about free speech, the history of comedy in Greenwich Village, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia.
Director of photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: The Presidential Press and Information Office
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: ABC
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: HBO
reason.com/video/2024/05/07/academics-use-imaginary-data-in-their-research
---
After surviving a disastrous congressional hearing, Claudine Gay was forced to resign as the president of Harvard for repeatedly copying and pasting language used by other scholars and passing it off as her own. She's hardly alone among elite academics, and plagiarism has become a roiling scandal in academia.
There's another common practice among professional researchers that should be generating even more outrage: making up data. I'm not talking about explicit fraud, which also happens way too often, but about openly inserting fictional data into a supposedly objective analysis.
Instead of doing the hard work of gathering data to test hypotheses, researchers take the easy path of generating numbers to support their preconceptions or to claim statistical significance. They cloak this practice in fancy-sounding words like "imputation," "ecological inference," "contextualization," and "synthetic control."
They're actually just making stuff up.
Video Editor: Adani Samat
Audio Production: Ian Keyser
Photo Credits: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA/Newscom, Walter G Arce Sr Grindstone Medi/ASP, Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/Newscom
Music Credits: Strange Connection by Nobou, Digital Dreams by Jimmy Svensson, Nothing Can Stop Us by Nobou, Hero Is Born by idokay, Sneaky Shenanigans by Charlie Ryan
00:00 - Americans still care about inflation.
16:49 - Donald Trump to speak at Libertarian Party National Convention
41:08 - U.S. House of Representatives passes the Antisemitism Awareness Act
50:24 - This week's cultural recommendations
Mentioned in this podcast:
"Americans Are Still Really Worried About Inflation," by Eric Boehm
"COVID Stimulus Money Lined the Pockets of Scammers and Fueled Inflation," by J.D. Tuccille
"Inflation Is So Back," by Eric Boehm
"Inflation Returns!" by Peter Schiff, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Scott Sumner, Randall Parker, James Grant, Steven Gjerstad, Vernon L. Smith, and Donald Luskin
"Biden Is Clueless About Inflation," by Nick Gillespie and Regan Taylor
"How Biden's Agenda Is Causing Inflation," by Nick Gillespie
"Who's Really To Blame for Inflation?" by Jonathan Bydlak
"L.A. Beats NYC?" by Liz Wolfe
"Mises Caucus Takes Control of Libertarian Party," by Brian Doherty
"David Boaz on Libertarianism, Ronald Reagan, and the 2024 Election," by Nick Gillespie
"Inside the Mises Caucus Takeover of the Libertarian Party," by Zach Weissmueller and Nick Gillespie
"'By Our Fruits, You'll Know Us': The Mises Caucus Mastermind," by Zach Weissmueller and Nick Gillespie
"Justin Amash's Vision for the Libertarian Party," by Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller
"Ron Paul Revolution 2.0: Angela McArdle's Plan for the Libertarian Party," by Zach Weissmueller and Nick Gillespie
"Dave Smith: Comedian, Podcaster…Presidential Candidate?" by Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller
"Biden Announces Second Attempt at Widespread Student Loan Forgiveness," by Emma Camp
"Mike Rowe Wants More Philosopher-Welders," by Nick Gillespie
"Should We Forgive Student Debt?" by Nick Gillespie
"Are Millennials Responsible for Their Own Student Debt?" by Nick Gillespie
"The Immorality of Student Loan Forgiveness and Free College," by Nick Gillespie
"The Antisemitism Awareness Act Will Make It Illegal To Criticize Israel on Campus," by Robby Soave
"Bipartisan Legislation Would Let the Government Create Speech-Chilling 'Antisemitism Monitors,'" by Emma Camp
"The Fall Guy Is a Crowd-Pleasing Homage to Silver Screen Stunt Work," by Peter Suderman
"A White Woman's Documentary About Muslim Extremists Is Being Canceled. Guess Why." by Robby Soave
"How Facebook Gender Identity Is Like Pop-Tart Sushi," by Nick Gillespie
Nick Gillespie interviews Students for Sensible Drug Policy's Kat Murti in New York City on May 8
Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.
Today's sponsor:
We all carry around different stressors—big and small. When we keep them bottled up, it can start to affect us negatively. Therapy is a safe space to get things off your chest—and to figure out how to work through whatever's weighing you down. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online. Designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and switch therapists any time for no additional charge. Get it off your chest, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/roundtable today to get 10 percent off your first month.
Audio production and video edit by Ian Keyser.
Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve
Producer: Hunt Beaty
This year there have been 12 incidents involving commercial aircraft in the United States. During that same period in 2023, there were 13 incidents. And since 2010, there are an average of 36 incidents per year.
#travel #airplanes #Boeing #factcheck
Subscribe
YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl
Text and links to sources available here: reason.com/podcast/2024/05/02/jesse-singal-should-kids-medically-transition
Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction to the Show and Topic: Kids and Gender Transition
00:02:14 Media Coverage and Jesse Singal's Insights
00:04:50 The Impact of Social Media and Activism on Youth Gender Medicine
00:09:36 Exploring the Tavistock Controversy and Its Implications
00:12:38 The Debate on Informed Consent and Medical Ethics
00:28:37 Social Contagion Theory and Its Effects on Gender Identity
00:34:03 Scrutinizing the Science Behind Gender Affirming Treatments
00:42:32 Navigating the Complexities of Youth Gender Medicine
00:43:03 The Role of Data and Evidence in Gender Transition Debates
00:44:34 The Impact of Politics and Misinformation on Transgender Healthcare
00:47:34 Exploring the Cass Review's Recommendations on Gender Medicine
00:49:24 Comparing Gender Medicine Practices: UK vs. USA
00:51:25 The Influence of Activism and Politics on Medical Standards
00:55:16 Addressing the Concerns Around Puberty Blockers and Hormone Treatments
01:20:32 Just Ask Us Questions: A Discussion of anarcho-capitalist Security
Should kids medically transition between genders?
The number of kids diagnosed with gender dysphoria has surged in recent years. In America, diagnoses have almost tripled from about 15,000 to more than 42,000 between 2017 to 2021. In the United Kingdom, the number of minors referred to the national Gender Identity Development Service grew from 51 in 2009 to 1,766 by 2016, leading to years' long waitlists for care within the government-run health system.
This surge caused England's National Health Service to commission an extensive study of youth gender treatment. That study is known as The Cass Review, and its results dropped on April 10. The review's author, former head of the Royal College of Pediatrics Hilary Cass, concluded that modern youth gender dysphoria interventions are informed by "remarkably weak evidence" drawing on studies "exaggerated by people on all sides of the debate to support their viewpoint" and that "we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress." The science, it turns out, is not settled—or anywhere close to it.
NHS England opted to stop routine prescriptions of puberty blockers following the review's publication, as have NHS Scotland and the Welsh Government. Major American medical groups like the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, all of which endorse prescribing puberty blockers for gender-dysphoric kids, have yet to officially respond.
American media coverage of the Review, which seems to throw the entire youth gender treatment paradigm in this country into question, has been remarkably muted. But today's guest is never muted. Jesse Singal has been covering this topic—and taken a lot of heat for it—for years in the pages of publications like The Atlantic, The Dispatch, and on his substack, Singal-Minded.
Sources referenced in Just Ask Us Questions:
youtu.be/TwiE1dxGYNY
youtu.be/Cy2Xla_urNI
Director of Photography: Alex Rosen
Video Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Video Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Lex Villena; Brian Cahn/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom, Eva Rinaldi
Director of Photography: Zach Wood
Video Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Video Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Lex Villena; Brian Cahn/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom, Jeremy Hogan ZUMAPRESS Newscom
Director of Photography: Zach Wood
Video Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Video Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Lex Villena
Director of Photography: Zach Wood
Video Producer: Veronica Riccobene
Video Editor: Chris Sowick
Illustration: Lex Villena; Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA/Newscom CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Newscom
0:00- Blockchain, Machine Learning, and Jesus
3:22- What’s Scarier; God Or Guns?
8:59- Road To Damascus, Hollywood
13:45- Jesus: A Weird But Groovy Dude
17:30- A Hollywood Solution To Hell
22:50- A Psychedelic Life Lesson
29:48- Comedy As Aggression
32:09- MDMA: A Non-Specific Amplifier
34:25- O Hollywood Mega-Hit, Where Art Thou?
43:35- The Comedies That Made Rob Long
45:39- Q&A
reason.com/podcast/2024/05/01/rob-long-god-is-good-drugs-are-better
---
Today's guest is comedy writer Rob Long, who served as a writer for and producer of the great sitcom Cheers for years, writes the weekly Martini Shot commentary, and cohosts the GLoP Culture podcast with Jonah Goldberg and John Podhoretz. He is a columnist for Commentary and a cofounder of Ricochet, the online community and podcast platform. At a live event in New York City, Reason's Nick Gillespie spoke with Long about whether Hollywood is out of ideas, what it's like being a libertarian-leaning conservative in a very progressive industry, and the role that psychedelics have played in his creative process.
Watch the full episode: youtu.be/0o602iSVBcg
---
Subscribe to the Reason Roundtable:
YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=B44SwI_PArk&list=PLBuns9Evn1w-1Dvaiy8KYsd1R-gn8CaDH
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w-1Dvaiy8KYsd1R-gn8CaDH
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/68EwVbYtTeNpQR6FCQt7yJ
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-reason-roundtable/id1155629323
Watch the full episode: youtu.be/0o602iSVBcg
---
Subscribe to the Reason Roundtable:
YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=B44SwI_PArk&list=PLBuns9Evn1w-1Dvaiy8KYsd1R-gn8CaDH
YouTube Music: music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuns9Evn1w-1Dvaiy8KYsd1R-gn8CaDH
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/68EwVbYtTeNpQR6FCQt7yJ
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-reason-roundtable/id1155629323