REASON – Free Minds & Free Markets | This, That and The Other

This morning, I attended oral argument in the tariff case. I was seated shortly after 9:00 a.m. and did not leave until nearly 12:45 p.m. As a result, for nearly four hours, I was completely immune to everything that was said on social media, on prediction marks, and in the press. It seems that shortly after Solicitor General John Sauer sat down, headlines started popping up with a consistent description: the Justices asked "skeptical" questions of the government. Indeed, I suspect these headlines were written formed before Neal Katyal finished his argument for the Respondents. The live-streaming of oral arguments has been a welcome development. But perhaps one drawback is that people make their assessments of big cases before they are over. And once a narrative takes old, everyone seems to glom onto it. As usual, I have an unorthodox take. Without question the justices had skeptical questions for the… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

The Democratic Party has reason to celebrate for the first time since President Donald Trump defiantly won reelection to a nonconsecutive term last year. Since then, the opposition party has been perpetually back-footed. But now, with major victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, and lesser wins elsewhere, Dems have officially broken their national losing streak. As the results trickled in last night, the tenor of the conversation on reliably liberal MSNBC became one of elation, with the various pundits observing that Trump's authoritarian overreach had finally inspired blowback. In fact, they had a specific example of overreach in mind: the White House's East Wing, which Trump has demolished in order to make room for a new ballroom. Progressive commentators Lawrence O'Donnell and Nicole Wallace repeatedly referred to this new construction project and suggested that by voting for Democrats, Americans have risen up to reject it. This… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

On July 5, 2016, FBI Director James Comey publicly explained why he did not think Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump's Democratic opponent in that year's presidential election, should be prosecuted for her "extremely careless" handling of "very sensitive, highly classified information" as secretary of state during the Obama administration. But four months later, just 11 days before the election, Comey informed Congress that the FBI had reopened its investigation of Clinton in light of recently discovered emails between her and her personal assistant. Although the new evidence did not change the FBI's assessment of Clinton's conduct, Comey did not report that outcome to Congress until November 6, two days before the election. Comey took a lot of flak from Democrats, who thought he had recklessly undermined their nominee's prospects by revealing a renewed yet ultimately fruitless investigation so close to the election. He responded by encouraging his "good… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Making it over the finish line in last night's New York City election were three proposed charter amendments that would collectively limit the power of the New York City Council to review and reject individual housing projects and smaller-scale zoning changes. According to the preliminary results, all three charter amendments passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote. That's a commanding victory and a notably higher margin than Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won in his own race. Mamdani did eventually endorse a 'yes' vote on all three charter amendments on Election Day. Andrew Cuomo, his main rival, also supported them. Republican Curtis Sliwa was opposed. Supporters of the amendments, plus a fourth that simplifies city zoning maps, are naturally celebrating. NEW: ALL FOUR PRO-HOUSING BALLOT QUESTIONS PASS!!! For the first time, New Yorkers had the chance to choose more housing at the ballot box—and they chose it… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

As of today, we are living through the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, surpassing the 35-day shutdown of 2019 during the first Trump administration. Since 1980, there have been 11 such shutdowns, most of which have left air traffic controllers to work without pay for the duration. Consequently, as the current one drags on, flight delays and cancellations continue to increase. Eventually, this shutdown will end, controllers will receive their back pay, and life will go on. But how many controllers will have resigned in the meantime? Other Countries Have Figured This Out Air traffic control (ATC) is too important to be vulnerable to politics. Around the world, governments have acknowledged this fact and depoliticized their ATC systems, beginning with the reformist Labor government of New Zealand in 1987. They removed the ATC system from their transport ministry and permitted the aviation user fees that… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.