The Reason Roundtable

Mexico's most notorious drug kingpin, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, has been awaiting trial in the United States since his dramatic capture in 2016. Federal prosecutors have filed charges of drug trafficking, murder, money laundering, and kidnapping against Guzmán, who ran the notorious Sinaloa cartel for more than 40 years. El Chapo gained notoriety for his daring prison escapes, and for his controversial 2016 interview with Hollywood star Sean Penn while hiding as a fugitive from the law.

The U.S. and Mexican governments have declared Guzmán's capture a major win in the drug war. Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron thinks his story better demonstrates the folly of prohibition.

Produced by Alexis Garcia.

If libertarians are bold, impulsive, quick witted, adventurous, analytical, and willing to ignore social norms, is that because we have especially active dopamine and testosterone systems in our brains?

That’s the hypothesis of the biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, who has developed a pioneering framework for classifying human temperaments. She spoke at the Reason Foundation’s annual donor weekend in West Palm Beach Florida.

Edited by Ian Keyser. Intro by Todd Krainin. 'Sphunx' by Sk'p is licensed under CC BY NC ND 3.0

Jordan Peterson is an unlikely YouTube celebrity. The Canadian psychologist lectures about things like responsibility. Yet millions of young people watch his videos, line up to hear his speeches, and buy his book 12 Rules for Life. It was number one on the Amazon bestseller list for a month.

John Stossel asks: What could make a book about responsibility take off?

The views expressed in this video are solely those of John Stossel; his independent production company, Stossel Productions; and the people he interviews. The claims and opinions set forth in the video and accompanying text are not necessarily those of Reason.

From Syria to spending, the legislative branch has lost all interest in performing its basic constitutional functions.

"The movement and struggle to win rights for corporations," says UCLA Law School Professor Adam Winkler, "[is] one of the least well-known, yet most successful civil rights movements in American history."

An important chapter in that history was in 2010, when the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the government to restrict corporations from spending money on political ads right before an election. Many liberal advocacy groups were outraged over the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Last year, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D- N. Mex.) and Martin Heinrich (D- N. Mex.) introduced a constitutional amendment that would overturn the decision.

In his new book titled We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, Winkler challenges conventional wisdom about Citizens United. He even complicates the narrative about the founding of America.

Interview by Paul Detrick. Edited by Detrick.

Aourourou by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Azalai/Aourourou

Artist: https://www.sessions.blue/

Toothless Slope by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Azalai/Toothless_Slope

Artist: https://www.sessions.blue/

In light of President Trump's missile strike on Syria, Reason has put together a quick refresher on a few of our many questionable interventions in the Middle East.

Written and performed by Andrew Heaton. Edited by Austin Bragg and Andrew Heaton.

Whether or not you like Facebook, it was hard to watch Mark Zuckerberg's congressional hearing without liking congress a lot less. In between the rampant showboating and clumsy soundbites, it became clear that a lot of legislators don't know enough about technology to competently regulate it. And even if they did, the federal government's track record on surveillance and privacy rights is less than sterling.

In the latest Reason video, we explore what we would have liked to see during Facebook's congressional hearing.

Written by Austin Bragg and Andrew Heaton. Starring Bragg and Heaton. Produced and edited by Bragg.

One Republican member of Congress who won't be sorry to see Speaker of the House Paul Ryan leave office is the libertarian-leaning Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who also served under John Boehner.

Boehner famously had no use for Amash's principled stand on shrinking the size, scope, and spending of government and was known to swear ferociously at the Michigander. Yet Amash told Reason that compared to Ryan, "In many respects, Boehner was the better speaker." That's because Boehner believed in letting Congress actually debate, argue, and vote on amendments to legislation in a relatively open manner. Ryan, in contrast, controlled the process tightly and thus stifled the legislative process.

With Paul Ryan's departure in January 2019, that opportunity just might arrive.

Cameras by Jim Epstein and Meredith Bragg. Edited by Alexis Garcia.

Mark Zuckerberg is the multi-billionaire founder and CEO of Facebook. This week he testified before Congress, assuring lawmakers that his company will play nice with government regulators.

Richard Hendricks is a character on HBO's sitcom Silicon Valley, the bumbling CEO of the unfortunately named Pied Piper. His memorable moments include evacuating his bowels, vomiting, and then lunging into a glass wall in front of his workers.

One is poised when being grilled by Congress and the other can't deliver a pep talk to his staff without hurling under his desk.

But Hendricks is a better hope for the future of the internet than Zuckerberg. Here's why.

Written by Jim Epstein and Nick Gillespie, who also narrates. Produced by Todd Krainin.

"Americans do not like to be manipulated," Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) told Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during his appearance before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. "They do not like to be spied on."

We can think of at least one whistleblower who agrees.

Produced and edited by Austin Bragg.