Author: nick
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…
On February 17, 2026, in the run-up of the primary election to determine the Democratic nominee and de facto future occupant of Illinois’s open U.S. senate seat, The New York Times ran a headline asking, “Can suburban support beat the party machine?” The Times was referring to what turned out to be the unsuccessful challenge of U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi against Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton. Krishnamoorthi is a Hindu born in Delhi and educated at Princeton who is supported by the Chief Technology Officer of Palantir as well as by Hindu and Indian donors and a series of universities and…
Image by Edgar Serrano. Donald Trump’s rhetoric and actions against Iran, Venezuela and Cuba over the last year have few parallels in modern history. They have to be seen as marking a new stage. As such they call for a reevaluation of analysis and strategy on the part of the Left. Trump’s repeated threat to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages where they belong” is unmatched by the rhetoric of even the most notorious and brutal heads of state over the recent past. Decapitating the entire leadership of a country to compel total submission, as Washington and Tel Aviv…
Escalation Is Looking More Likely in Iran Source link
Some excerpts from Judge Cecilia Altonaga (S.D. Fla.) long opinion today in Pete v. Cooper (for more on the earlier phases of the case, see this post): This case arises out of defamation per se and related state-law claims, brought by Plaintiff, a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist known professionally as Megan Thee Stallion, against Defendant, an online personality who goes by Milagro Gramz or Mobz World. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant orchestrated a retaliatory smear campaign against her because of her role in the 2022 conviction of Daystar Peterson, a Canadian rapper and singer known as Tory Lanez, who, after a widely…
Iran Is Unraveling, No Realistic Prospects of Victory or Peace Source link