Author: nick

Photo by Bradley Andrews Imagine celebrating the price of corn or wheat hitting a record high. That would make perfect sense if you grew corn or wheat, but it’s hard to see why anyone else would be celebrating. This is the same story with the stock market, even though shareholders are a somewhat larger share of the population than corn or wheat farmers. But the basic principle is the same. In principle, the stock market reflects expectations of future after-tax corporate profits. Expected profits can rise because the economy is expected to grow more rapidly, and corporations will get their…

Today the Supreme Court issued an order in Smith v. Scott, a qualified immunity case. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for further consideration in light of Zorn v. Linton, 607 U. S. ___ (2026) (per curiam). Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson would deny the petition for a writ of certiorari. Smith had been floating around for a long time. It was first distributed to conference back in September 2025. Zorn, the case that caused the GVR,…

This week, Andrew Heaton is joined by Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman, who recently turned a police raid on his home and the lawsuit that followed into an unlikely free speech victory and a new chapter in his career. Afroman explains how officers raided his house, damaged his property, seized cash, and then sued him after he used the security footage in his music videos to mock them. He argues that the real issue was not just the raid itself, but the lack of accountability that followed, and says the verdict was a win for ordinary Americans who want the right to…

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Points of Departure It seems an opportune time to scrutinize how it has come to pass that the U.S. has become a menace to others as well as to itself. Remembering its early vision of being a peaceful democracy that confined itself to the Western Hemisphere without entangling alliances and suspicious of a standing army that was institutionalized as part of governance and national security, other than in conditions of wartime. This was not the whole truth, which blurs this mythified positive self-image of ‘greatness’  or ‘American exceptionalism’ by reminding dogmatic patriots of genocidal policies…

In Germany, officials stress that military service remains voluntary. But an update to its military service law, which quietly took effect in January, bars men between ages 17 and 45 from leaving the country for more than three months without permission. Critics say the rule could affect millions of men and is causing confusion, while supporters say it will improve Germany’s response to emergencies. The post Brickbat: Won't You Stay appeared first on Reason.com. Source link

Happy 4/20 to the millions of people across the country who celebrate, including much of the Reason staff. As someone who’s never been interested in pot—save for one summer in college—or drugs in general, I’ve always found the day a bit strange. But as I’ve grown older (and more libertarian), I’ve come to appreciate it as a celebration of personal freedom.  I’m not the only one who has changed his mind. In 2025, 64 percent of Americans thought marijuana should be legal for both medical and recreational use (up from 31 percent in 2000), according to Gallup. Meanwhile, 40 states…

More details USS North Dakota, the first of the VPT-equipped Block III Virginia-class submarines. (Cost: $2.6 billion) Photo: U.S. Navy. “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies…a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.  The world in arms is not spending money alone.  It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.  The cost of one modern bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 60 cities…two fine, fully equipped hospitals.  This is not a…

During a very gay—in the old-fashioned meaning of the word—and drunken evening in Gstaad very long ago, William F. Buckley asked me whom I considered the worst American president. Bill had a habit of turning dinner conversations into debates, and we all were grateful for this habit of his, since apres-ski dinners more often than not involved pretty young things that were known to confuse Rambo with Rimbaud.  I did not have to think long. By far Woodrow Wilson, I exclaimed, and Bill raised that eyebrow of his and almost burst out laughing. “Do explain, Taaakhi,” ordered Bill with his…

“We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost,” says military contractor and all-around surveillance-enabler Palantir. The big data company—whose analysis tools help power everything from “predictive policing” in U.S. cities to military operations in Gaza—recently released a 22-point manifesto that’s perhaps best described as bootlicking, though icky, elitist, and ultranationalistic would also do. You are reading Sex & Tech, from Elizabeth Nolan Brown. Get more of Elizabeth’s sex, tech, bodily autonomy, law, and online culture coverage. Palantir posted the document…

This morning the Court granted cert in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy. The petition presented three questions: 1. Whether proving a lack of general applicability under Employment Division v. Smith requires showing unfettered discretion or categorical exemptions for identical secular conduct. 2. Whether Carson v. Makin displaces the rule of Employment Division v. Smith only when the government explicitly excludes religious people and institutions. 3. Whether Employment Division v. Smith should be overruled. The Court, however, only granted on Questions #1 and #2. This will likely be yet another repudiation of Colorado’s hostility to religious liberty. Has any other…