Reason Magazine

09/23/2025

Stunning in its authoritarian scope, a new Michigan bill could criminalize "50 Shades of Grey", "When Harry Met Sally", VPNs, p**n, romance novels, and basically any online writing about trans people.

Under the law, transgender people people writing about their gender identity online could face 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

09/23/2025

Hawks in Congress tried to use Bagram Air Base as an excuse to stay in Afghanistan and fight the Taliban. That idea seems to have stuck in Trump's head.

Mike Waltz is no longer national security adviser, but his plans for Bagram Air Base seem to have stuck in the president's head.

09/23/2025

Many people say the government can just "tax the rich" to fix the federal budget. But is it really that easy?

America has about 800 billionaires. Imagine we seized every single dollar of their wealth—every home, property, business, investment, car, and yacht—and sold it all for full market value.

That would raise enough revenue to finance the federal government for 9 months.

Not 9 months out of every year: 9 months one time.

Taxing the rich could be part of a broader deficit "grand deal" where all taxes and spending are up for debate. But it could only ever be a modest part of such a deal, because the potential revenue available from taxing the rich can close only a small portion of our nearly unfathomable deficits.

Here's the truth about taxing the rich: https://reason.pub/46vPZSm

09/22/2025

Donald Trump said last week he is designating Antifa as a "major terrorist organization."

There is no such thing as a domestic terrorist organization list in the United States.

When Congress debated the first counterterrorism legislation in the 1990s, the Clinton administration and the Anti-Defamation League ADL pushed for sweeping domestic police powers.

It was Republicans who opposed those measures at the time because they worried that counterterrorism would be weaponized against the right.

As a compromise, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 only allowed the government to designate and ban foreign terrorist organizations.

However, Trump has other tools he can use to crack down on political enemies: https://reason.pub/4gE3cNW

09/22/2025

Join Cato Institute’s Alex Nowrasteh, Reason Magazine and National Review for “Reason Versus: Mass Immigration Is Good For America”, an honest, uncensored, unpredictable live debate on immigration.

Is mass immigration primarily a wellspring of economic vitality and innovation – or a source of crime and social instability? Debaters will take on the biggest questions and arguments about immigration in front of a live audience.

🗓️ Thursday, October 2.

📍Hook Hall in Washington, D.C.

Details & tickets ➡️ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reason-versus-mass-immigration-is-good-for-america-tickets-1596360851279?aff=affiliatecato

09/22/2025

While the First Amendment still stands, it won't be enough if its foundations in the culture continue to erode.

As Charlie Kirk himself warned, "when people stop talking, really bad stuff starts. ... When civilizations stop talking, civil war ensues."

09/22/2025

"Reconstruction wasn't successful in Afghanistan, but it was very successful in northern Virginia and the suburbs of Washington."

Watch an exclusive clip from 'Bodyguard of Lies,' an upcoming documentary about the failed war in Afghanistan.

09/22/2025

The pronatalist movement is selling bad policies and rigid ideas about gender. There is a better way.

09/22/2025

In 2020, Gloria Gaynor forewent her yearly trip to the tax office during COVID-19. She returned in 2021 to pay her property taxes, her attorney said, under the impression that the pause in enforcement meant the government would apply her money toward the previous year. Instead, it went to 2021, and her debt from 2020 remained intact.

Her $3,500 bill ultimately reached $14,419 with penalties, interest, and fees. The government sold that debt to a real estate firm, which then acquired the deed to the home.

Yet Gaynor—who had nearly paid off the mortgage—will not see a dime in equity, despite the fact that she owed the government $232,000 less than what the home is ultimately worth.

The equity on the home is now in the hands of a private company, as opposed to the elderly woman who spent the last 25 or so years paying off the mortgage.

Gaynor is not even close to being alone here: https://reason.pub/46wsqcn

09/22/2025

Rand Paul concurs that the threats preceding the comedian's suspension were "absolutely inappropriate" because the agency has "no business weighing in on this."

09/22/2025

Indian nationals are currently the largest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program. More than 70 percent of those visas go to Indians, and 12 percent going to Chinese people.

Plus: Zohran Mamdani wanted to defund the police in 2022, fourth alleged narcotrafficking boat downed, and more...

09/22/2025

Reminder: Regulatory power is all too often abusively targeted.

Philadelphia food truck owners found that inspectors took a special interest in them after they publicly opposed a new business curfew.