Reason Podcast

The late Jonathan Gold wrote about food in Southern California with an intimacy that brought readers closer to the people that made it. The Pulitzer Prize–winning critic visited high-end brick-and-mortar restaurants as well as low-end strip malls and food trucks in search of good food wherever he found it. Gold died of pancreatic cancer last month, but he still influences writers like Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times columnist and author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. Arellano sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to talk about Gold's legacy, political correctness in cuisine, and why Donald Trump's love of taco salad gives him hope in the midst of all of the president's anti-Mexican rhetoric. The interview took place at Burritos La Palma, named by Gold as home to one of the five best L.A. burritos. Produced and edited by Paul Detrick. "Hang for Days" by Silent Partner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music

By the time she arrived last year at The New York Times to help write and edit its Opinion section, 34-year-old Bari Weiss had already done stints at the online magazine Tablet and The Wall Street Journal. She had also made a number of enemies who accused her of being a narrow-minded, right-wing, pro-Israel, anti-Arab bigot. Far from bringing some fresh ideas to The Gray Lady's leftish commentary section, her hire, wrote The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald, emodied the paper's "worst failings—and its lack of viewpoint diversity." In Greenwald's reading, Weiss "has churned out a series of trite, shallow, cheap attacks on already-marginalized left-wing targets that have made her a heroine in the insular neocon and right-wing intelligentsia precincts." Her widely read pieces about the identity-politics excesses of a lesbian march in Chicago and of the #MeToo Movement, and her chronicling of the "intellectual Dark Web" didn't represent anything new, just more of the same. Greenwald wrote an attack on Weiss's student days at Columbia, claiming that she defamed anti-Israel professors as racists and tried to silence them academically. That charge prompted National Review's David French, who in a previous life was the president of The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), to write that Greenwald and others were "sliming" Weiss. Nick Gillespie sat down to talk with Weiss at FreedomFest, the annual gathering of libertarians held every July in Vegas. She was in town to attend the Reason Media Awards because she was a finalist for the Bastiat Prize which "honors writing that best demonstrates the importance of freedom with originality, wit, and eloquence. Indeed, she took home the top prize, besting finalists Jake van der Kamp of South China Morning Post, Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic, Gustavo Arellano of The Los Angeles Times; and Bonnie Kristian of The Week. We talked about Israel and Jewish identity in America and her work, why she considers herself a liberal (among other things, she's pro-marriage equality and abortion), how to avoid becoming the cartoon version of your most-outspoken critics, and more. Audio production by Ian Keyser.

President Donald Trump's current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, spent the weekend calling Trump's previous lawyer, Michael Cohen, a liar, while Trump continued to make false statements about the Russia investigation. On today's podcast, Reason's Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Christian Britschgi try to sort out who and what, if anything, we should believe. In the moderator's chair, Peter Suderman—that's me!—fills in for Matt Welch, who is still on vacation. Later on, the gang discuss the latest twists and turns in the Trump trade war drama, Britschgi's groundbreaking reporting on plastic straw bans, and why everyone is talking about socialism. As always, this fun-filled and freewheeling hour of news and opinions ends with staff recommendations: for board games (Secret Hitler), documentaries (Far From the Tree), books (To the Bridge), and TV shows (Sharp Objects). Audio production by Ian Keyser. 'Songe D'Automne' by Latché Swing is licensed under CC BY NC SA 2.0 FR

When President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Randy Barnett—a libertarian legal scholar, Georgetown Law professor, and Volokh Conspiracy blogger—praised the choice, writing that "Kavanaugh's appointment would move the Court in the direction of textualism and originalism. He's very interested in the separation of powers in general and with respect to the administrative state in particular." In a new Reason Podcast recorded at FreedomFest, the annual gathering of libertarians in Las Vegas, Barnett fleshes out his assessment of Kavanaugh, including areas in which the judge is not so good from a libertarian point of view (think Fourth Amendment). Barnett also talks about the history of Supreme Court confirmation hearings and the radical departure things took with the nomination of Robert Bork to the high court in 1987. Audio production by Ian Keyser.

The Pulitzer-winning columnist George Will has been in Washington, D.C. since the 1970s and he's basically seen it all. But at a special Reason Podcast recorded at FreedomFest, the annual gathering of libertarians held every July in Las Vegas, he admits to be being frightened of what he's calling "the Big Flinch" or "a recoil against the churning of an open society, against the spontaneous order that is the alternative to statism, against the frictions of economic growth that becomes more necessary as the entitlement state becomes more rickety. Meanwhile, the fatal conceit—the abandonment of [Friedrich] Hayek's epistemic humility—is everywhere, particularly in the Republican Party's embrace of protectionism." On the latest Reason Podcast, Nick Gillespie talks with baseball fanatic Will about the causes and consequences of the Big Flinch, what it's like to be completely let down by the GOP's leadership, the unquestionably positive dimensions of Donald Trump's presidency (think federal judiciary), and the really odd am-I-having-a-stroke-or-not experience not just of the Chicago Cubs finally winning a World Series but the Houston Astros snagging a world championship too...but for the American League. Audio production by Ian Keyser.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is a thorn in the side of the GOP establishment. He has voted against so many bills, including measures championed by his own party, that in 2013 Politico dubbed him "Mr. No." Reason sat down with Massie at FreedomFest in Las Vegas to discuss his battles with the Republican establishment, how Trump's tariffs are breeding cronyism, why federal marijuana prohibition will come to an end, and the impact that he and his fellow libertarians in Congress are having on policy. A member of the GOP, Massie also explains why he won't be switching over to the Libertarian Party anytime soon. Edited by Justin Monticello. Music by The Grand Affair.

"Yeah, gigantic deficits are not good," says director of President Trump's National Economic Council Larry Kudlow in a clip at the top of today's Reason Podcast, before he goes on to make ridiculous excuses for gigantic deficits. Matt Welch is somewhere in a French chateau, so today's pod features special guest star Managing Editor Stephanie Slade, plus the usual gang of Nick Gillespie, Peter Suderman, and Katherine Mangu-Ward. After digging into the deficit darkness, we turn our thoughts to the latest revelations in the Trump Russia imbroglio, as well as the politics of criticizing socialist Democratic candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We wrap up, as usual with our recommendations for stuff to read or watch or put in your face holes, which this week includes the new Mission:Impossible movie and some fancy booze from France. Audio production by Ian Keyser. Valse in D-flat major "Minute Waltz" by Chopin, played by Muriel Nguyen Xuan is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0

Reason's Nick Gillespie, Robby Soave, and Mike Riggs debate whether Mark Zuckerberg's should de-platform haters to improve the user experience at the world's largest social-media service.

Congress is "given a pile of papers, sometimes a couple thousands pages long, a few hours before the expiration of a spending deadline," says Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). "When there's no opportunity for debate, for discussion, for amendment, for individual members to improve [legislation], you've effectively disenfranchised almost 300 million Americans." Since toppling longtime incumbent Bob Bennett in a 2010 primary and then riding the Tea Party wave to become the junior senator from Utah, Lee has been one of the most careful and liberty-friendly legal minds in public office. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he'll participate in the upcoming confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. But he was almost in the hot seat himself: Lee was one of the seven finalists Trump considered to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy. Lee talked with Reason's Matt Welch about the Supreme Court selection process, Kavanaugh's Fourth Amendment views, and the senator's longstanding goal to get a sentencing reform bill on President Trump's desk. Edited by Paul Detrick. Photos of Sen. Mike Lee, Credit: Jeff Malet Photography/Newscom Armadillo by Silent Partner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary_download?vid=cfa8d2f35697f58e&f=m

On July 2, 2018, Reason and The Soho Forum hosted a debate between Erik Voorhees, the CEO of ShapeShift, and Peter Schiff, CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital. The proposition: "Bitcoin, or a similar form of cryptocurrency, will eventually replace governments' fiat money as the preferred medium of exchange." It was an Oxford-style debate in which the audience votes on the resolution at the beginning and end of the event, and the side that gains the most ground is victorious. Voorhees won by changing the minds of 15 percent of attendees. Produced by Todd Krainin.

"The huge standoff between the Republican and Democratic Parties, both of them being extreme right or extreme left,...make it more likely than it's ever been that a third party...will win the presidential election in 2020," says former Massachussetts governor (and former Republican) Bill Weld. In a special podcast hosted by Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie and taped last week at FreedomFest, the Libertarian Party's 2016 vice-presidential candidate waved off speculation that he's running for the party's presidential nomination. The election is too far away and too many unpredictable things could happen, he told us with a smile, even as he talked about all the party's candidates he's been helping out. Weld has already won over another lapsed Republican, Washington Post columnist George Will, who recently wrote that Weld incarnates "what a broad swath of Americans say they favor: limited government, fiscal responsibility, free trade, the rule of law, entitlement realism and other artifacts from the Republican wreckage." At the recent Libertarian convention in New Orleans, Weld impressed a good share of the party faithful too. His Twitter feed is filled with shout-outs and endorsements of Libertarian candidates such as Larry Sharpe and calls to "Stop the Duopoly." In a wide-ranging conversation, Welch and Gillespie grill Weld about the ideological fissures within his party, whether he endorsed Hillary Clinton in the waning moments of the 2016 campaign, and how he would sell a message of principle in a nation that is getting more tribalistic by the minute.

Is Rand Paul really a traitor? Or are we losing our damn fool minds over everything Trump/Russia? Reason editors Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch debate President Trump's bumbling statecraft, whether trading partners are friend or foe, and what the World Cup teaches us about immigration. Audio production by Ian Keyser. 'Day Into Night' by Rho is licensed under CC BY NC 3.0

In the spring of 1989, Chinese students occupied Tiananmen Square, erected a replica of the Statue of Liberty, and called for democracy and individual rights. By the fall, people living in East Germany took hammers and chisels to the Berlin Wall, unleashing a wave of revolutions that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was an auspicious year for human freedom. Nineteen eighty-nine was also the year that Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto published The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in The Third World, which radically challenged conventional wisdom about the underlying cause of persistent poverty in the post-colonial landscape. Drawing on his extensive field work with the Peruvian-based think tank the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, de Soto argued that people were pushed into the black market and wider informal economy because governments refused to recognize, document, and promote legal ownership of land and other assets. Reason's Nick Gillespie caught up with de Soto in Washington, D.C. in June, where he received the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Julian L. Simon Memorial Award, named for the late free-market economist who believed that "mankind is the ultimate resource." 'Subdivision of the Masses' by Philipp Weigl is licensed under CC BY 4.0 'By Grace' by Podington Bear is licensed under CC BY NC 3.0 'Garden of Untamed Roses (Act II)' by Lloyd Rogers is licensed under PD

President Donald Trump's new nomination to serve on the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, is "supremely qualified" for the job, says Case Western Reserve University law professor and Volokh Conspiracy blogger Jonathan H. Adler. In most ways, he continues, Kavanaugh is a good pick from a libertarian perspective. He's been a widely respected judge on the D.C. Circuit for a dozen years, he's an "originalist" when it comes to the Constitution (meaning he believes the text and meaning of laws when they are passed are central to their application), and he's a principled critic of the administrative state (rule by agency bureaucrats rather than Congress). So what's not to like if you're libertarian? Adler, who also writes for National Review, says that Kavanaugh is a cipher on issues surrounding the rights of criminal defendants. And when it comes to the procedural rights of enemy combatants, to national security measures, and to certain aspects of executive power, the 53-year-old D.C. native may be more deferential than most libertarians would want. In a wide-ranging conversation about the shifting balance of power on the Supreme Court, confirmation-hearing hypocrisy from Democrats and Republicans, and fact-free attacks on the Federalist Society as a secretive king-making group, Adler talks with Nick Gillespie about the future of abortion and same-sex marriage and the likely outcome of Kavanaugh's nomination.

"We're looking at a destruction of the Constitution of the United States," if Donald Trump gets to pick Supreme Court justices. That's what Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told MSNBC recently. A couple more appointments to the top court, she said to Chris Matthews, and you can kiss abortion rights, integrated schools, and more goodbye. That completely deranged point of view is reaching a fever pitch today, the day that the president will announce his replacement for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. On today's Reason Podcast, Matt Welch moderates and Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, and Nick Gillespie talk about Trump's Supreme Court shortlist, just how much the Supreme Court matters in the long run, and whether The Donald is a net positive or negative for libertarian-minded Americans. Matt Welch also gives a first-hand report on what he saw at the Libertarian Party convention in New Orleans, and we talk about the legacy of Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and other more-popular-than-ever superheroes. An ardent Objectivist and Ayn Rand fan, Ditko contributed two comics to Reason in 1969, each of which took aim at "neutralists" who were willing to "compromise" with evil and thus become evil themselves (that's a rough paraphrase). 'Fuck It' by Broke For Free is licensed under CC BY NC 3.0