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Six gifts to help people learn about liberty.

Tech companies are compiling incredibly detailed dossiers about you.

Watch the Oxford-style debate hosted by the Soho Forum.

Socialist regimes use government brutality to enforce bad laws.

Since 2015, when Reason first sat down with Adam Conover, host of TruTV's hit show Adam Ruins Everything, a new president has taken office, a new media landscape has emerged, and some would say we're inhabiting a new reality.

What's it like to make a show that seeks to uncover hidden truths in the "post-truth era"?

"I guess what's happened is that I've a little bit let go of the idea that we can reach everybody," says Conover, who's about to go on a live tour and is gearing up for the premiere of his show's third season. "Certain people...the informational world they live in, it's so distorted that it's hard to get through."

But most people still have a "deep down desire to learn, to know the truth," he says.

In a wide-ranging interview with Reason's Zach Weissmueller (full disclosure: Weissmueller is married to the show's casting director), Conover shares his thoughts on the "response videos" to his work proliferating on YouTube, how he contends with the psychological defense mechanisms that prevent viewers from changing their opinions, the "de-platforming" of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and how big tech companies are changing our perceptions of reality.

The new season of Adam Ruins Everything premieres on November 27, 2018, and his live tour starts on November 28.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Paul Detrick, Justin Monticello, and Alexis Garcia.

"Happy Whistle" by Scott Holmes is licensed under an Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license

"Symphony No. 5" by Gustav Mahler and performed by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony is licensend under a Creative Commons Unported Attribution License

"We live in a culture that kind of revolves around shame," says director Jason Reitman. "If you're someone who experiences shame, you drop out of the race. If you're someone who doesn't experience shame, not only do you stay in, but you thrive."

Reitman's new film, The Front Runner, starring Hugh Jackman, is based on the true story of Gary Hart's 1988 democratic presidential campaign, which was derailed on allegations that Hart was having an affair with model Donna Rice.

The director Reitman—a self-described libertarian whose prior credits include Thank You For Smoking (2005) and Juno (2007)—also co-wrote the screenplay with political reporter Matt Bai and former political operative Jay Carson. It chronicles Hart's doomed campaign through the experiences of his family, campaign aides, and a press corps wrestling over whether the candidate's sex life should be treated as newsworthy.

Reason's Meredith Bragg sat down with Reitman, Bai, and Carson to discuss the film, how the interest in Hart's scandal changed the way the media covers political figures, and the filmmakers' search for a "reasonable conversation."

Produced, edited, and interview conducted by Meredith Bragg.

Cameras by Todd Krainin, Austin Bragg, and Mark McDaniel.

Photo credit: SUN/Newscom.

Remy recalls a time when experts were claiming that "Hitler was a beginner compared to the comic-book industry," and he recounts how Stan Lee took a stand.

Written and Performed by Remy

Video Produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg

Music tracks and background vocals by Ben Karlstrom

Should social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube only remove users who make true threats or incite violence? Or do they have an ethical obligation to hold their users to a higher standard?

That was the topic of a recent public debate hosted by Reason—a West Coast version of the popular New York City-based debate series, The Soho Forum—pitting Thaddeus Russell, author of A Renegade History of the United States and host of the Unregistered podcast, against Ken White, an attorney at Brown, White & Osborn, author at the legal blog Popehat, and co-host of the podcast All the President's Lawyers.

'Machinery' by Kai Engel is licenced under CC BY-NC 4.0

Sen. Bernie Sanders recently came up with a new business to attack: Amazon. Sanders said Amazon didn't pay its workers enough and because of that, many qualified for government assistance.

At first, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos defended his company.

That was the right thing to do, says John Stossel. He notes: "It's not companies' fault that some workers qualify for handouts. More people would collect them if Amazon were not hiring. By creating jobs, Bezos gives workers better choices."

But the media rarely mention that. Instead, they bombarded Amazon with negative coverage.

So Bezos caved. He declared that all Amazon workers would now all be paid $15 an hour or more. That higher wage sounds good to most people, but Stossel point out that while the higher minimum is good for workers who have jobs now, it can shut out beginners.

Kelsey Holder (now Kelsey Turner) started working at age 13, for minimum wage, at Mossman's Coffee Shops and Catering Company in Bakersfield, California.

By the time Stossel interviewed her in 2010, she was making $20 an hour. She told him: "For being only 13...minimum wage was fine. If you work hard, you can make more, it's just you have to prove yourself."

The skills she learned through work—even at minimum wage—served her well. Kelsie is now the restaurant's manager. Had the minimum wage been higher when she started, she may never have gotten that opportunity.

When Amazon sets a high minimum wage at its own company, unskilled workers can still find jobs at other companies.

But Amazon did not stop there. It has also begun lobbying for the government to force all its competitors to pay a higher minimum wage too.

That could help Amazon, Stossel says: "Amazon's already replacing workers with robots. Bezos knows a higher minimum wage will hurt his competitors more than it hurts him."

Amazon often tries to get favors from government. It didn't just announce a second headquarters. It started a competition to see which politicians would give it the largest tax incentives.

"Give me a break," Stossel says. "Politicians shouldn't pander to companies, and companies shouldn't pander to politicians. I wish Bezos would stick to innovating, not scheming with politicians to get special breaks. Some of the worst enemies of capitalism are capitalists."

Remy updates the iconic Randy Newman anthem for 2018.

Parody written and performed by Remy

Camera and editing by Austin Bragg

Music tracks, background vocals, and mastering by Ben Karlstrom