New York City Mayor Eric Adams Wants You to Love Big Brother
A surveillance state is no less tyrannical when the snoops really believe it's for your own protection.
9/11
TSA Gets $400 Million for Pay Raises in Omnibus Spending Bill
The bill also gives TSA employees the power to collectively bargain, which means more pay raises are likely in the future.
21 Years After 9/11, TSA Still Insists on Grabbing Your Dick When You Fly
The Transportation Security Administration is one of the more useless, invasive appendages of the post-9/11 security state. It’s well past time to get rid of it.
Welcome to the Post-Post-9/11 Era
But a few remnants of post-9/11 foreign and domestic policy still need to be thrown out.
U.S. Kills Al Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Will It Matter?
Plus: Judge rejects "terrorism" label for January 6 defendant, dozens of abortion clinics have closed since June, FTC staff recommended against Meta lawsuit, and more...
Nathan Rabin: Why Gen X Is Super Media-Literate
The Joy of Trash author talks about how D.A.R.E., bad TV, Weird Al Yankovic, and 9/11 created a generation of ironic idealists.
'Fear Is the Tool of Totalitarians': Ron Paul on War, Money, and the Libertarian Moment
The former Texas congressman and presidential candidate says his goal was to get people to think about freedom.
Supreme Court Rules the CIA Can Keep Mouths Shut About Its Post-9/11 Torture Black Sites
All of this is a transparent effort to stop lawsuits from those who have been tortured.
We Said Good Riddance to the Afghan War in 2021. Unfortunately, It's Not Actually Over.
Our drones still patrol the skies, and our tax dollars will be paying off the costs of failed nation-building for decades.
The PATRIOT Act's Poisoned Tree
Two decades after 9/11, the government's appetite for spying has only grown.
Americans Now Prefer Smaller Government, But May Not Get It
No matter what the public wants, crises typically leave the state more powerful.
Put the Whole Department of Transportation on Paternity Leave
Pete Buttigieg attracted some criticism for taking time off. But it's telling that no one initially realized he was gone.
Why Millennials and Gen Z Hate Boomers, and What To Do About It.
Karla Vermeulen's Generation Disaster: Coming of Age Post-9/11 is a starting place to mend the new generation gap.
How Afghanistan Became the First 'Feminist' War
Rafia Zakaria's controversial Against White Feminism challenges the status of icons like Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, and Eve Ensler.
Karla Vermeulen: Inside the Mind of 'Generation Disaster'
Young people who came of age after 9/11 aren't snowflakes despite being exposed to a series of catastrophic events and apocalyptic news narratives.
After Toppling Al Qaeda, America Wasted a Staggering Amount of Money in Afghanistan
There will likely never be a full accounting of the war's cost, but as much as $600 billion might have simply vanished due to waste, fraud, and incompetence.
The Card Counter Is an Unexpectedly Powerful Anti-War Film
Paul Schrader's story of an ex-military torturer is a searing tale of violence and redemption.
What Fear Does to Our Freedom
COVID-19 and 9/11 both created opportunities to restrict our liberties in the name of keeping us safe.
Could the CIA and FBI Have Stopped 9/11?
We may have misinterpreted 9/11 as a harbinger, when it was really just an outlier.
We Lost Liberty After 9/11—COVID-19 Threatens More of the Same
History is repeating itself in ways that we, and our kids, will live to regret.
Federal Grants Brought the Equipment of the War on Terror Home to American Police Departments
Twenty years after 9/11, weaponry and surveillance gear originally developed for the military have become commonplace in police departments around the country.
Biden Won't End the Warfare-Surveillance State
National security reporter Spencer Ackerman on 9/11, mass surveillance at home, and failed wars abroad.
Why Don't More Countries Enforce the Airport Security Rules That the TSA Says Are Essential?
While liquid limits are common, America's shoe removal policy is nearly unique, and many countries allow small pocket knives.
America's Post-9/11 Surveillance Authorities Were Inevitably Turned Against Its Own Citizens
We were warned about the dangerous power of the USA PATRIOT Act. Edward Snowden proved that critics were justified.
Department of Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security's Creators Promised Efficiency. They Delivered Disaster.
The consolidation of numerous unrelated government agencies within a single department has led to decades of waste, mismanagement, and terrible abuses of authority.
Spencer Ackerman: How 9/11 Destabilized America and Produced Trump
The Reign of Terror author on fighting surveillance and interventionism done in the name of stopping jihad.
9/11's Lesson: War Doesn't Work
Historian Stephen Wertheim says two decades of failed wars have finally made America more likely to embrace military restraint.
How 9/11 Actually Changed Everything
Plus, why is no one talking about the Medicare Trustees' entitlement report?
Documentary on CIA's Hunt for Bin Laden Doesn't Truly Pull Back the Curtain
As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, prepare for the many, many looks back.
Stephen Wertheim: 9/11, Afghanistan, and Failed Foreign Policy
"You don’t get to lose a war and expect the result to look like you won it," says the author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy.
REAL ID Deadlines Threaten America's Post-COVID Travel Plans. Could We Please Kill This Law?
More than half of Americans don’t have these new licenses. Airports are supposed to start checking them by October.
COVID-19 Hygiene Theater Is Out of Control
It's unscientific, wastes precious resources, and keeps Americans unjustifiably scared of the virus.
A Declassified Case Against Torture
Retired FBI agent Ali Soufan argues that the agency's thirst for torture made it harder to protect Americans.
From 9/11 to COVID, Every Emergency Means Bigger Government
We have to stop governing by emergency.
Don't Give Domestic Extremists the 'Post-9/11 Treatment'
Government responses to Capitol rioters must be research-based and not just emotional reactions.
Don't Let the Capitol Riot Reignite the War on Terror
Government grows in response to a crisis.
Goodbye, Trump. Hello, War on Domestic Terror.
Plus: Biden pushes 8-year path to citizenship, Parler is back, Josh Hawley's book finds new publisher, and more...
What 9/11 and the Financial Crisis Teach Us About COVID-19
Sometime in 2021, the American people will be presented with a reorganized and newly empowered federal public health bureaucracy. As time passes, it will grow in size and scope.
9/11, the Financial Crisis, and Now Coronavirus
The Reason Roundtable podcast looks at the crappy track record of government policy forged in crisis.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie Signs On to House Bill Ending War in Iraq
“Let’s vote on this and see who is serious about ending forever wars.”
Democratic Candidates Agree—Let's Get Out of Afghanistan
Sen. Warren: "The problems in Afghanistan are not problems that can be solved by the military."
Teen Witnesses to 9/11 Reminisce About the Horrors They Saw That Day
New HBO documentary is moving … until it wanders into our current politics.
Can Adam Driver Make Americans Care About CIA Torture Again?
A new movie, The Report, documents the Senate struggle to inform the public about our wartime waterboarding and "enhanced interrogations."
Rand Paul Was Right to Delay Vote on Funding Bill for 9/11 First Responders
The Kentucky senator wants the Senate to consider offsetting spending cuts before approving limitless, automatic spending for the rest of the century.
House of Representatives Votes to Rescind Authorization for Our Endless Wars
It's not likely to get anywhere in the Senate, but consider it progress.