The Reason Roundtable

Nick Gillespie has already leveraged the Reason Podcast into a webathon pitch (speaking of which, DONATE TO REASON TODAY!), but I just want to point out that you'll be hard-pressed to find another free source of news commentary that produces such phrases as "performative morality" and "moronic stumblebunnies"….

On today's episode, Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch discuss tax reform, President Donald Trump's endorsement of Roy Moore, Bush/Gore whataboutism, the dangers of becoming a low-trust society, escalating political nihilism, and whether libertarians have contributed to the aforementioned problems with burn-it-all-down rhetoric.

Audio production by Ian Keyser.

Mostly Weekly is a Reason TV web series that is a libertarian answer to Last Week with John Oliver, The Daily Show, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Created by Sarah Rose Siskind and Andrew Heaton (he also hosts), Mostly Weekly episodes have offered funny, info-rich takes on everything from "medically assisted sex" (in which surrogates help disabled people rediscover their sexuality) to stopping patent trolls to how sugar subsidies screw up Halloween candy to the government's unwinnable "war on boobs."

The series' most-popular episode was one that offered a fast-yet-comprehensive take on Hillary Clinton's campaign memoir, What Happened, which also serves as a primer in the psychological malady of what Heaton and Siskind identify as "I.D.D. or introspection-deficit disorder." Go here for a full archive.

In the latest Reason Podcast, Nick Gillespie talks with Siskind and Heaton about what it's like to loiter at the lonely crossroad of libertarianism and comedy; how they came to their beliefs in small, small government and big, big laughs; and what's in store for viewers of Mostly Weekly.

Audio production by Ian Keyser.

In the latest episode of the Reason Podcast, Reason TV Editor in Chief Nick Gillespie chats with Managing Editor Meredith Bragg and Deputy Managing Editor Jim Epstein about the 10th anniversary of our video platform, our backgrounds in journalism, what makes our channel unique, its history, and where it's headed in the years to come.

This is Reason's annual webathon week, during which we ask our audience to support our activities with tax-deductible donations. If you like what we do, please consider supporting us.

Audio production by Ian Keyser.

On November 13, George Mason University economist and Cafe Hayek blogger Don Boudreaux faced off against Rick Manning of Americans for Limited Government in a public debate about free trade. The event was part of The Soho Forum, Reason's monthly debate series held at the SubCulture Theater in New York City's East Village.

The resolution: "The U.S. government should unilaterally abolish all tariffs and duties on imports and all subsidies to exports, thereby making all reciprocal trade agreements with other countries unnecessary." Boudreaux defended the proposition, and Manning attacked it.

Michael Eisen's goal is to change the way scientific findings are disseminated. Most research papers today are locked behind paywalls, and access can cost hundreds of dollars per article. The general public, and most scientists, don't have comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research, even though much of it is funded by U.S. taxpayers.

"It's a completely ridiculous system," says Eisen, an acclaimed biologist at UC Berkeley, an independent candidate for Senate in California running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), and a co-founder of the Public Library of Science, or PLOS, which publishes some of the largest and most prestigious academic journals in the world. These publications stand out for another reason: They're open access, meaning that anyone with an internet connection can read them for free.

Produced by Justin Monticello. Music by Silent Partner, Vibe Tracks, and MK2.

On today's episode of the Reason Podcast, Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch discuss the Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) sex scandal, last week's repeal of net neutrality, and Reason's upcoming Webathon. Support our journalism!

Some of the stories referenced in this week's show:

Peter Suderman's 2010 story in Reason: " The War Over Neutrality: How the tech industry learned to stop worrying and love the FCC."

Nick Gillespie's podcast interview with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: "FCC Head Ajit Pai: Killing Net Neutrality Will Set the Internet Free"

Pai on last week's The Fifth Column.

Audio production by Mark McDaniel.

"One thing we've learned from The Phantom Menace is don't start a story with a dissertation of economics," says Andy Weir, author of The Martian. Last week he released a new novel, Artemis, about a settlement on the Moon. Where The Martian, which was turned into a blockbuster starring Matt Damon, is powered by plot-driving engineering mishaps and triumphs, Artemis gave Weir a chance to unleash his inner "economics dork." The political economy of the moon is a fascinating part of the new book, featuring guilds, crony capitalism, reputation mechanisms, a non-state quasi-currency, sex tourism, smuggling, and more.

Reason magazine Editor in Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward talks with Weir about life on the moon, his desire to read more hard science fiction, why he thinks we don't have to worry about protecting Mars' ecosystem, zero gravity honeymoons, and the fact that he doesn't much care how or where SpaceX's Elon Musk dies.

Audio production by Ian Keyser.

In an exclusive interview today just hours after announcing his plan to repeal "Net Neutrality" rules governing the actions of Internet-service providers (ISPs) and mobile carriers, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai has an in-your-face prediction for his critics: "Over the coming years, we're going to see an explosion in the kinds of connectivity and the depth of that connectivity," he said this afternoon. "Ultimately that means that the human capital in the United States that's currently on the shelf—the people who don't have digital opportunity—will become participants in the digital economy."

On this week's Reason Podcast, Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch discuss everything that's wrong with the Republican tax-reform bills, what they would mean for Obamacare, whether the never-ending stream of sexual-assault revelations will turn America into a desert wasteland of fierce Beyoncé woman warriors, gubernatorial candidate and Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O'Neill's announcement that "in the last 50 years" he has been "sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females," and whether Harvey Weinstein is the "Charles Manson" of the 21st century.

As a candidate, President Donald Trump ran on a platform that called for the deportation of 11 million immigrants. In this, he was merely supercharging policies that had been put in place by his predecessors Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, all of whom targeted illegals among us in various ways and to varying degrees.

In a powerful, richly reported piece in the latest issue of Reason, Shikha Dalmia traveled to Arizona to investigate how Trump's war on illegal immigration is causing all sorts of collateral damage in the lives of American citizens and businessmen. There is, she argues, no way to surgically remove millions of people—most of whom are law-abiding and productive members of society—without causing incredible pain to those of us who have every legal right to go about our lives without interference from immigration and border agents.

The war on immigration has taken a great toll on unauthorized aliens, its targets. But it is also badly affecting Americans themselves, its intended beneficiaries. Those who think they can escape the crossfire because they are authorized, naturalized, or native-born, with American ancestors going back generations, are simply fooling themselves.

In the newest Reason Podcast, Nick Gillespie talks with Dalmia about the unexamined toll of immigration crackdowns on legal residents. From illegal imprisonment to politically motivated audits to invasive internal checkpoints, we all suffer when immigration policies and realities are way out of whack.