Trump Wasn't a Dictator, but He Played One on TV
The 45th president busted norms left and right. But the abuse of executive power didn't start and won't end with him.
February 2021
Features
A Silicon Curtain Descends
Trump escalated America's war against Huawei and China. Biden should beware burgeoning technonationalism.
Why Is America Still In Syria?
Trump brought chaos to a region already on the brink, and the unintended consequences of his actions will reverberate for years to come.
Interview
Glenn Greenwald: 'Journalists Are Authoritarians'
What went wrong at the outlet he co-founded, what's wrong with the ACLU, and what might go wrong in the Biden administration
Topics
In Defense of COVID Billionaires
Billionaires may well have enabled our greatest (only?) policy successes in 2020.
Professor Elinor 'Lin' Ostrom
Ostrom was best known for her studies of how local groups manage natural resources.
The Silver Lining in Biden's Massive Housing Plan
A Democratic White House and a Republican Senate might be the best of all worlds when it comes to federal housing policy.
The Risk of Arrest for Cannabis Consumers Is Shrinking
Nationwide, marijuana arrests peaked at nearly 873,000 in 2007; the 2019 number was 37 percent lower.
What Amy Coney Barrett Got Wrong About Lochner
Justice Barrett should revisit her views on this wrongly maligned case.
Preserve Your Sanity by Preserving Food
Canning is a hedge against uncertainty, an education in self-reliance, and a pocket of calm amid tumult.
District Attorney Candidates Win Big Against 'Tough on Crime'
During the last few election cycles, a wave of well-funded progressive candidates have run for prosecutor's offices in major cities. This time, quite a few reform-minded D.A.s won.
Political Problems Are Policy Problems
The market's failure to produce an ideal outcome cannot alone justify activist policy, because governments can also fail to produce the ideal.
Biden Pledges to Rejoin Paris Climate Agreement
His plan says that by 2035, no electric power should be generated by burning fossil fuels, and the U.S. should commit to zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
The 2020 Election Was a Rebuke of Socialism
The s-word doesn't actually play too well with most voters.
California Voters Liberate Ride-Share Drivers From A.B. 5
The lawmakers who passed A.B. 5 ignored the many benefits of contractor status.
It's Time To Fix Green Card Quotas
Current law caps the number of employment-based green cards that can be granted each year at 40,000, which doesn't meet demand.
Congress Targets Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google for Being Popular
After a 16-month investigation into the big four tech companies, it seems the most that congressional busybodies can accuse them of is routine business practices and having popular services.
Culture
Sex, Communism, Race, and Creative Freedom in Hollywood
Like the Hays Code and Waldorf Statement before it, new diversity requirements are Tinseltown's way of asserting cultural dominance through self-policing.
Reviews
The Dakota Entrapment Tapes
The new documentary hammers home the senselessness of the war on drugs.
Meddling in the Ballot Box
As long as there have been American elections, foreign powers have sought to influence them.
Neutron Gun Reloaded
Gerry Reith's raw, paranoid, apocalyptic fables were shot through with distrust for just about every institution around.
Wasteland 3
It's a telling sign when a video game opens with a warning that the events it depicts might be a little too close to life.
Trial 4
Ellis' story is a vivid illustration of the principle that justice delayed is justice denied.
ETC.
Ajit Pai on What the FCC Has Done Right
Pai has focused on taking a market-based approach to regulating the nation's always-evolving telecommunications industry, with great success.
Brickbats: February 2021
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world
