Reason Magazine

"Princes and Thieves" makes explosive claims about the Trump family’s role in Middle Eastern intrigue.

"You Can See Everything", Nathan Fielder's new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, is a surreal and elaborate con.

Are innocent people entitled to compensation when their property is ruined by police? That will continue to be an "open question."

Asking the important questions in this week's "Unregulated" reasonmagazine.substack.com/p/why-is-tru...

Iowa voters may disagree on immigration, taxes, and the economy, but government surveillance is drawing opposition from across the political spectrum.

"Do I enjoy politics? No. Do I know what I'm doing? No. But am I qualified? Also no." buff.ly/eFnKt5b

State and federal prosecutors responded to fentanyl overdoses by treating accidents as homicides. buff.ly/60xqbQl

Since the Founding, Americans have been rightly skeptical of government overreach and the potential to abuse arrest powers. In the era of Trump's immigration crackdown, this skepticism is even more warranted, and accountability is even more needed.

Once again, a member of President Donald Trump's administration is threatening to punish private citizens for their speech using the power of the government.

"This business is my American Dream, and the government took years of my hard work without telling me what I did," Mario Ayala says. "This raid hurt me and my family. I hope this lawsuit gets my money back and helps make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."

The Trump administration's rampant and unprecedented corruption is finally breaking through in polls and conservative media, even if J.D. Vance is still willfully ignorant of it. Read more: buff.ly/p1NksOg

"The ex-husband of an Arizona woman who voluntarily took abortion pills in 2018 has won a civil lawsuit against the clinic that prescribed them," writes @enbrown.bsky.social. buff.ly/Pms6e0P

A media investigation found criminal referrals of schoolchildren age 10 to 13 grew as the number of school resource officers in Texas likewise ballooned. buff.ly/XwMbJvS

The import taxes fit a pattern of dubious legal rationales for Trump's protectionist policies.

The new Harvest Fuel Relief program is the latest payment to farmers squeezed by the president’s own war and tariffs.

"The federal drug police want to turn consumers of certain concentrated kratom-derived products into criminals while leaving traditional kratom leaf products outside the ban. Before exposing adults to arrest and prosecution, the feds owe them a scientific explanation for that distinction."

The new sex trafficking suit against Matt Gaetz seems very weak. No claims of assault, forced prostitution, threats, fraud, or the alleged victims being underage... You don't have to like Gaetz to think we shouldn't call this "sex trafficking" reason.com/2026/10/19/m...

Social Security's COLA reflects many of the fundamental flaws with America's old-age entitlement program. Like Social Security as a whole, it is too generous to the rich, too costly to the taxpayers, and too unfair to younger, poorer workers.

A federal court recently revived William Fambrough's lawsuit, which alleges city officials—including then-Mayor Brandon King—retaliated against him for his speech.

In an attempt to lower gas prices that spiked because of the Iran War, the Trump administration has repeatedly issued waivers of the Jones Act, a century-old law that requires all goods moved between American ports to be carried on American-built, American-crewed ships.

Important update on this case, which is headed to the Supreme Court. I wrote about it back in 2024, including talking to professional distillers about what to expect if legalization leads to more Americans distilling spirits at home: reason.com/2024/10/07/h...

Did this miniature donkey pose an "imminent threat" to police? Watch the body cam footage and decide for yourself. buff.ly/V8XmMzt

"The Trump administration's plans to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan ran afoul of a deep-rooted aversion to bloody displays of state power going back to the colonial era," writes @cjciaramella.bsky.social. buff.ly/eRBlvWn

Wrote a little bit about the history of public executions in America: "Trump and Hegseth didn't trip over just liberal and religious pieties, but a deep-rooted American aversion to bloody displays of state power that goes back to the colonial era." reason.com/2026/10/16/a...

A Manhattan Institute scholar claims "DOGE worked." So did DOGE work? Only if you grade it on a pretty dramatic curve. buff.ly/XQeewnK

The 8th Circuit rejects qualified immunity for a judge who locked two children in jail cells because he was frustrated by their resistance to a parental custody decision.

Cambridge's city council says "the arrest of adult persons for consensual sex work should continue to be amongst the lowest law enforcement priorities" & the DA "should cease prosecution of persons for consensual adult sex work" reason.com/2026/10/12/c...

Support for the Trump administration's tariff policies has fallen by 25 percentage points among blue-collar workers over the past year, according to new polling data.

Republicans who want to speak to voters' anger over higher prices without criticizing the president who's caused them are in a bind.

According to the Federal Reserve's latest Survey of Consumer Finances released last week, households headed by someone aged 75 or older had a median net worth of $504,900 in 2025, compared with just $33,000 for households headed by someone under 35.

If the "deal" with Russia comes to fruition, it will further erode what little power Congress retains within America's democratic system. If a president is not bound by the laws Congress has passed, then the legislature might as well not exist at all.

U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted a preliminary injunction to CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, which Trump banned from the White House because of their "purposely negative stories."

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban argues that fixing America's healthcare system will require breaking up massive conglomerates that wield enormous power over pricing and competition, often at the expense of patients.

Sad update here: I heard from a family member that Elmer Williams died on Sunday. I've been haunted by what he told me three years ago. "Slowly, slowly, slowly, they just let me fall apart."

A community college outside Chicago tried to cancel its Flock contract. Flock refused, and it continued to operate the cameras on campus.

If the former U.S. ambassador to Greece tried to use her office for personal gain, she was only imitating her boss.

In Reason Foundation’s 2026 open enrollment report, Oklahoma scores 99 out of 100, earning an A+ and ranking first in the nation for policies that let kids transfer to public schools with open seats. See your state’s grade:

The case of George Anibowei, a U.S. citizen who has had his phone searched at least five times at the border, shows just how invasive border agents have become.

Once a leading figure in the anti-government militia movement, Ammon Bundy is now speaking out against President Trump's immigration crackdown, arguing that the same federal overreach he spent years fighting is now being directed at immigrants.

In the name of national sovereignty, the U.S. government is trying to ban foreign governments—and American citizens—from voluntarily working with a war crimes tribunal.

Trump stands out from his modern predecessors by openly displaying his contempt for the First Amendment.

For the latest issue of @reason.com, I wrote a negative review of a children's book by two teenagers (whose dads are a member of Congress and DHS Sec Markwayne Mullin) reason.com/2026/10/09/s...

Shocker: CBO data contradicts President Donald Trump's oft-repeated claim that tariffs are bringing in "trillions" of dollars for the United States. buff.ly/ETIe4ZT

Reminder: AI chatbots are not people. buff.ly/mcshlqA

A North Carolina state trooper shot Lydia Nikac's two dogs, but an appeals court ruled she doesn't have a right to publish body camera footage of the shooting under the state's restrictive public records laws.

Thank you to @reason.com for covering the data I collected with my students showing that between 2021 and 2025, states passed at least 654 criminal justice reform laws. The number of reform laws passed actually increased in 2025, the first year of Pres Trump's second term reason.com/2026/10/07/i...

This is the bed the GOP has made for itself by supporting Trump in three straight presidential races, by standing by as his administration raised taxes on American businesses and consumers without congressional approval, and by ignoring the economic and polling data for the past two years.

"This is nakedly corrupt, and Guilfoyle should resign as ambassador or be impeached and removed. She cannot be trusted to represent U.S. interests abroad when she has proven that she is willing to peddle influence with the Trump administration in exchange for personal enrichment."

A survey of crime experts deflates Trump's attempt to take credit for recent declines in the homicide rate.