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Elica Le Bon, an attorney and Iranian-American activist, talks about Iran's recent strike on Israel

The News2Share cofounder, Ford Fischer, is revolutionizing news coverage.

Should kids medically transition between genders? The number of kids diagnosed with gender dysphoria has surged in recent years. In America, diagnoses have almost tripled from about 15,000 to more than 42,000 from 2017 to 2021. In the United Kingdom, the number of minors referred to the national Gender Identity Development Service grew from 51 in 2009 to 1,766 by 2016, leading to yearslong waitlists for care within the government-run health system. This surge caused England's National Health Service to commission an extensive study of youth gender treatment. That study is known as the Cass Review, and its results dropped on April 10. The review's author, former head of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Hilary Cass, concluded that modern youth gender dysphoria interventions are informed by "remarkably weak evidence" drawing on studies "exaggerated by people on all sides of the debate to support their viewpoint" and that "we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress." The science, it turns out, is not settled—or anywhere close to it. NHS England opted to stop routine prescriptions of puberty blockers following the review's publication, as have NHS Scotland and the Welsh government. Major American medical groups such as the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics, all of which endorse prescribing puberty blockers for gender-dysphoric kids, have yet to officially respond. American media coverage of the Cass Review, which could throw the entire youth gender treatment paradigm in this country into question, has been remarkably muted. But today's guest is never muted. Jesse Singal has been covering this topic—and taken a lot of heat for it—for years in the pages of publications such as The Atlantic, The Dispatch, and on his Substack, Singal-Minded. Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher.

Radley Balko debates Coleman Hughes about his recent column arguing that Derek Chauvin may have been wrongly convicted of George Floyd's murder on this latest episode of Just Asking Questions. Subscribe YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl Text and links to sources available here: https://reason.com/podcast/2024/03/14/coleman-hughes-vs-radley-balko-whos-right-about-george-floyd 0:00- Summary of Coleman Hughes' and Radley Balko's disagreement about George Floyd's death 2:09- Balko asks Hughes to correct his article 9:27- Hughes' response to Balko 19:27- What is maximum restraint technique (MRT)? 27:20- Derek Chauvin ignored warnings from his colleagues and the surrounding crowd 32:42- Why did Chauvin keep kneeling on Floyd after he went limp? 37:18- Was “The Fall of Minneapolis” a trusthworthy documentary? 47:02- Did Floyd die of positional asphyxia? 1:10:50- Would Hughes change anything if he had to rewrite the article? 1:21:14- The aftermath of George Floyd's death 1:36:00- Is there systemic racism in policing? 1:43:13- How do we hold police officers accountable? 1:51:24- Did Derek Chauvin get a fair trial?

Psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker is one of the leading defenders of academic freedom and liberal values of limited government, secularism, tolerance, and free enterprise.

"I'm concerned about a Trump-Biden rematch," argues Riedl. "You have two presidents with two of the worst fiscal records of the past 100 years." reason.com/video _______ You probably already know that the national debt is bigger than our whole economy. But relax, because things can always get worse! And they will, regardless of whether Biden or Trump gets elected in the fall. Each has a proven track record of spending like a drunken sailor and most projections show that debt will grow to between 181 percent and 340 percent of GDP over the next few decades. Reason's Nick Gillespie discussed all of this and more with Brian Riedl, a budget expert at theManhattan Institute. Riedl explains why massive and growing debt is really bad, why reducing it is really hard but really important, and why young people should be really pissed.

Serial entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale, who founded the Cicero Institute to fix government and University of Austin to fix higher education, wanted space to flourish in Texas.

Abigail Shrier is author of the best-selling new book Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up. She argues that the mental health of Gen Z—people born between 1997 and 2012—is a mess because an infantilizing therapeutic culture pervades every aspect of their lives. 0:00- Why do kids have no interest in growing up? 3:37- Do kids see too many doctors? 4:10- The difference between adult therapy and child therapy 7:48- How many children are in therapy? 9:32- Therapy in K-12 education 13:00- Who is Elizabeth Loftus? 16:35- Has every child been traumatized? 18:05- What is trauma? 20:33- Who is Viktor Frankl? 24:20- The redefinition of trauma 28:20- How to understand what our ancestors experienced? 30:44- Are we delaying adulthood? 32:04- What happened to after school jobs? 34:06- Is social media making kids sad? 37:02- Why do parents surrender authority to experts? 42:36- Are we done with the cult of experts? 48:38- How to be a good parent 50:16- How to fix mental health at school https://reason.com/podcast/2024/04/10/abigail-shrier-stop-obsessing-over-our-childrens-happiness --- Shrier stresses that she's not against psychological counseling and help per se, but she believes too many unqualified and misguided people are causing far more problems than they solve. Her previous book was the controversial Irreversible Damage, which looked at the rapid rise of girls identifying as transgender. We talk about the roots of today's therapeutic culture, the extent of the problems it causes, and how parents, teachers, and young people themselves might find a better way forward.

The Nayib Bukele model in El Salvador means security without liberty. https://reason.com/video/2024/02/27/the-bukele-model-means-security-without-liberty/ --- "They were delicious," said a woman about the pupusas she received after casting her vote in El Salvador's recent presidential election. The stuffed corn tortillas, the country's best-known dish, were handed out courtesy of the federal government and its incumbent President Nayib Bukele, who was running for reelection despite a constitutional ban on serving consecutive terms. Giving out food at polling stations might qualify as illegal voter interference. Bukele was undeterred. Bukele ended up winning 85 percent of the popular vote, and his New Ideas party held on to its majority control in Congress. The 42-year-old president called the landslide victory "a record in the entire democratic history of the world." El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America with a population of about 6.3 million, but Bukele has made himself one of the best-known political leaders in the world. His outsized public profile stems from his public embrace of bitcoin and the staggering decline in crime and violence in El Salvador since he took office. Bukele's gang crackdown suspended constitutional protections and drew allegations of human rights abuses. People were arrested without a judicial order or access to a lawyer. Arrest quotas were handed out and thousands were wrongfully detained. Mass hearings are being held for as many as 300 defendants at a time. There are reports of over 250 people being placed in a single prison cell, and inmates are often denied food for extended periods. There are allegations of torture. And Bukele's government is accused of secretly negotiating a truce with gang leaders, buying their support with financial benefits and special privileges. But Bukele remains incredibly popular thanks to the dramatic improvement in public safety. According to a recent poll, he has the support of 70 percent to 90 percent of the country. Bukele brushes aside claims that he is forming a single-party state, pointing to his landslide victory and broad support. There's an understandable tendency to overlook rule-bending for expedience in deeply troubled nations, but if robust institutions don't constrain El Salvador's political majority, it could become yet another Latin American dictatorship. Music Credits: “Eyes on the Ball” by Sémø via Artlist; “Yelema” by Captain Joz via Artlist; “Piki Piki” by Captain Joz via Artlist; “CloudCity” by Out of Flux via Artlist. Photo Credits: Valter Campanato/ABr, CC BY 3.0 BR, via Wikimedia Commons; nicolas genin from Paris, France, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Dilma Rousseff, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Alexander Pe?a / Xinhua News Agency/Newscom; La Prensa Gráfica, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Salvador alc, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; MPfoto71/Newscom; Camilo Freedman/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; 總統府, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Franklin Reyes from La Habana, Cuba, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; The photographer is Carlos Granier-Phelps., CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons; Alexander Pe?a / Xinhua News Agency/Newscom; Camilo Freedman/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; DPST/Newscom; Album / Oronoz/Newscom; Claudia Guadarrama/Polaris/Newscom; La Prensa Gráfica, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Joka Madruga, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Fernanda LeMarie - Cancillería del Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Cancillería Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Camilo Freedman/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Camilo Freedman/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Jonathan Alpeyrie/SIPA/Newscom; Joel Alvarez (Joels86), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Russian Foreign Ministry/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; RICARDO BARBATO / BlackStar Photos/Newscom; Eneas De Troya, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; LEONARDO GUZMAN / GDA Photo Service/Newscom; Prensa Miraflores; Darafsh, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Secretaría de Prensa El Salvador; Javier Campos/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Francisco Arias/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Notimex/Newscom; Allison Dinner/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Jimmy Villalta/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Cindy Miller Hopkins / DanitaDelimont.com / "Danita Delimont Photography"/Newscom. Producer: Katarina Hall Video Editor: Regan Taylor Graphics: Adani Samat

Bryan Johnson, venture capitalist and founder of Blueprint, discusses his $2 million a year effort to reverse aging on Just Asking Questions. Subscribe YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl Text and links to sources available here: https://reason.com/podcast/2024/02/27/bryan-johnson-can-this-rich-transhumanist-beat-death 0:00- A day in the life of a transhumanist trying not to die 3:18- How important is our sleep cycle? 8:30- Humanity's imminent "evolutionary transition" 14:02- How close are we to finding the real "Fountain of Youth"? 16:30 - Do genetics trump lifestyle? 22:30- Self-experimentation and scientific progress 24:50- Why Bryan Johnson measures his nighttime boners 35:01- Liz reacts to Bryan Johnson's daily meal plan 48:00 - Coping with the "existential crisis" of AI 1:00:00- In defense of blood boys --- Bryan Johnson made his fortune when he sold his company Braintree to PayPal for $800 million, netting about $300 million for himself. He spends about $2 million a year creating a system to reverse his "biological age." He's 46 years old, chronologically, but claims he's de-aged himself following a program he's branded "the Blueprint protocol." "I wanted to pose the question in this technological age: Can an algorithm, paired with science, in fact, take better care of me than I can myself?" Johnson tells Reason's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe on the latest episode of Just Asking Questions. They talked with Johnson about his daily routine, the results he's published including measurement of his nighttime erections, the transhumanist philosophy he outlines in his free e-book Don't Die, the role that artificial intelligence is likely to play in prolonging human life and health spans, and the value and limitations of self-experimentation in an era of pharmaceutical stagnation. Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or on the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher.

Honk Honk HODL raised more than $1 million of bitcoin for the Canadian truckers. About two-thirds of it got to them. Financial censorship, or cutting off access to the global banking system, is one of the most powerful tools that governments have for punishing people. The U.S. Department of Justice used it in 2013 through a program known as Operation Choke Point. It went after firearms dealers, payday lenders, and sex workers by pressuring banks to cut off their access to financial services. The federal government blocks marijuana businesses that are legal under state law from opening bank accounts. And the U.S. Department of the Treasury financially censors other governments around the world that commit human rights abuses or senselessly attack other nations, most recently Russia for invading Ukraine. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau financially censored the Canadian truckers occupying the country's capital city, Ottawa. It's clear that governments can use financial censorship to squeeze worthy and unworthy targets alike for the time being, but it's less clear if governments can maintain this power for much longer. The moment raises a pressing question for cryptocurrency enthusiasts: Does bitcoin solve this? Does a global, decentralized monetary system that nobody can manipulate or control take away the power of the state to use financial censorship as a weapon, for good or for ill? A surprisingly successful bitcoin-based crowdfunding campaign called "Honk Honk HODL," which raised more than $1 million worth of bitcoin for the Canadian truckers, shed some additional light on that question. And the answer appears to be, "eventually, maybe, but there's more work to be done." Nick, who goes by @NobodyCaribou on Twitter, started talking with Canadian truckers in early February, teaching them about bitcoin, raising small amounts to hand out, and eventually partnered with a pro-bitcoin YouTuber to launch Honk Honk HODL on the bitcoin-based crowdfunding site Tallycoin. "My idea was like, if we get to a thousand or 2,000 dollars, and I can go around and give a hundred bucks to different truckers, that would be amazing. It would be a cool experiment to do. So why not do it?" says Caribou. Then crypto investors Jeff Booth and Greg Foss jumped in to lend their names and credibility—as did the popular Canadian YouTuber and streamer Ben Perrin, who goes by "BTC Sessions." "So things just started snowballing a lot quicker than anticipated," says Perrin. "My initial thought was, 'Oh, maybe we'll get a few thousand dollars and some people can buy some gas cards and some food or something.'" But the fundraiser took off after GoFundMe was pressured into canceling a fundraiser that had accumulated $10 million for the Canadian truckers, and then a judge blocked the distribution of $9 million from another crowdfunding platform. And when the Canadian government announced it would be freezing truckers' bank accounts, some supporters of the movement began to turn to cryptocurrency. The Honk Honk HODL fundraiser eventually surpassed $1 million U.S. dollars' worth of bitcoin. Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Graphics by Nodehaus. Photos: Normand Blouin/Polaris/Newscom; CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Newscom; Lin Wei / Xinhua News Agency/Newscom; Arindam Shivaani/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Richard B. Levine/Newscom; Marco Verch; Nazareth College

"People are not in politics for truth-seeking reasons," argues the data journalist and author of "On The Edge: The Art of Risking Everything." 0:00- The difference between liberals and the left. 11:00- Is progress slowing? 14:57- Is the two-party system dead? 20:00- The future of journalism 27:44- Free speech is in trouble 30:07- Is Biden too old? 35:57- Silver's new book, "On the Edge" 45:00- Questions from the live audience. https://reason.com/podcast/2024/03/06/nate-silver-libertarians-are-the-real-liberals/ __________ Journalist Nate Silver burst onto the national scene in 2008, when he correctly predicted 49 out of 50 states in that year's election, outstripping all other analysts. His former website FiveThirtyEight became a must-visit stop for anyone interested in political forecasting and helped mainstream the concept of "data journalism," which utilizes the same sort of hard-core modeling and probabilistic thinking that helped Silver succeed as a professional poker player and a staffer at the legendary Baseball Prospectus. Reason's Nick Gillespie talked to Silver about the 2024 election, why libertarian defenses of free speech are gaining ground among liberals, his take on the "crisis" in legacy media, and his forthcoming book, "On The Edge: The Art of Risking Everything." Photo Credits: Brian Cahn/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Sandy Carson/ZUMA Press/Newscom; 157014269 © Ilnur Khisamutdinov

Podcaster Dave Smith and philosopher Chris Freiman debate open borders on the latest episode of Just Asking Questions.

Congressman Thomas Massie discusses his "no" votes on foreign aid, COVID relief, and labelling anti-Zionism antisemitism on episode two of "Just Asking Questions." Subscribe YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-asking-questions/id1719355507 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5SpySKAH3LuVyxXk0MF7tl Transcript available here: https://reason.com/podcast/2023/12/13/thomas-massie-why-not-vote-no/ --- 0:50 - Why does renewing Section 702 threaten Americans' privacy? 9:02 - Why does Massie oppose aid for Ukraine? 14:20 - Why did Massie vote against 19 pro-Israel resolutions? 18:10 - Is anti-Zionism antisemitism? 26:12 - What was it like being slammed by Donald Trump for opposing COVID bailouts? 30:08 - Does Congress have any remorse for bad COVID policy? 31:55 - Can we ever tame the national debt?

"I think it really destroyed my brain. And I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn," singer Billie Eilish told Howard Stern in 2021. Sex researcher Aella is skeptical of Eilish's take. Watch the full replay of Aella's live conversation with Reason's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe: youtube.com/watch?v=BsL1FgOVsXA&t=394s

According to U.S. mainstream media, Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei is a right-wing populist. Does that characterization stand up to scrutiny? Watch the full replay of Zach Weissmueller's conversation with Argentine economist Eduardo Marty and Guatemalan libertarian activist Gloria Álvarez: youtube.com/watch?v=W8MeyFRv16o

Good intentions, bad results. Watch the whole series here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hwuRkJMo_4&list=PLBuns9Evn1w9XhnH7vVh_7C65wJbaBECK https://reason.com/video/2023/01/13/great-moments-in-unintended-consequences-vol-10/ ______ Part One: See Shores The year: 2003 The problem: There's a photo of Barbra Streisand's house on the internet! The solution: Sue the photographer for $50 million, and demand the photo be removed. Sounds like a great idea, with the best of intentions. What could possibly go wrong? It turns out that when you try and hide something, people get interested. The aerial image—part of a larger project to document coastal erosion—had only been downloaded six times before Streisand got upset. But in the month following the lawsuit, over 400,000 people clicked on the image of Streisand's house. Babs lost her case and was forced to pay $177,000 in legal fees, and the Streisand Effect is now shorthand for bringing unwanted attention to the very thing being suppressed. Maybe next time, don't mansion it! Part Two: Open Sesame The year: 2022 The problem: Over a million Americans are allergic to sesame seeds! The solution: Add them to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s major allergens list, which requires food manufacturers and restaurants to disclose if products either contain or might have come into contact with the seeds. Sounds like a great idea, with the best of intentions. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out sesame seeds are small and a bit hard to keep track of, making it frustrating and expensive to guarantee seeds will not cross-contaminate other foods. Under the stringent FDA rules, it's not good enough to simply state that a food "may contain" or is "produced in a facility" that uses sesame, so rather than go through the cost and hassle of assuring there are none in their product, companies simply added small amounts of sesame to their products and included it in the lists of ingredients. Presto! Problem solved! Unless, you know, you're allergic. Part Three: Golden Goals The year: 1994 The problem: Ties in soccer are boring! The solution: Organizers of the Caribbean Cup made game-winning overtime goals count double, pushing teams to play aggressively in extra time! Sounds like a great idea, with the best of intentions. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out… math! In the last group game of the tournament, Barbados needed to beat Grenada by two goals to reach the final. Otherwise, Grenada would advance. With only minutes left in the match, Barbados found themselves up by only a single goal. Realizing their predicament, Barbados scored on themselves. So long as they could keep the game tied during regular play, Barbados could win by two with a single score in overtime. What followed was one of the most bizarre five minutes in the history of the game, with Barbados defending both goals while Grenada tried to score on either end of the field. Grenada failed, Barbados scored in overtime, and the rule was dropped. And then it rolled around on the pitch for a while, grabbing its knee, looking for a penalty. Goooooooo reevaluate your priors. Great moments in unintended consequences: good intentions, bad results. Written and produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg; narrated by Austin Bragg

Libertarians have "a justified suspicion of the attempt to use public accommodation laws to override the independent judgment of businesses," says Walter Olson of the Cato Institute. Watch the full replay of Nick Gillespie's live conversation with Olson and Coleman Hughes: youtube.com/watch?v=s7A6GW0SCZ8

"We will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots," actor Bryan Cranston said last month at a SAG-AFTRA strike rally. Longtime TV writer and producer Rob Long responds. Watch the full replay of Long's interview with Reason's Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P78YXNWS4E

Alex Winter, director of the new documentary "The YouTube Effect," Reason's Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller reflect on "Me at the zoo," the first video ever posted to the platform. And they talk about the changes on YouTube over time and what effects those changes have had on politics, culture and media. Watch the full conversation with Alex Winter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzV-SZ8md6E

"For the first time, the people making TV and movies don't really like TV and movies," says Rob Long, former executive producer of "Cheers." Watch the full replay of Long's interview with Reason's Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P78YXNWS4E

"The lack of transparency has been truly shocking," says Matt Ridley, co-author of "Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19." Watch the full replay of Ridley's conversation with Reason's Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller: youtube.com/watch?v=l_sXcRyKBFM

Texas' restrictions on internet porn went "far beyond the interest of protecting minors," a federal judge ruled this year. Adult content creator Aella discusses the effects of anti-porn laws. Watch the full replay of Aella's live conversation with Reason's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe: youtube.com/watch?v=BsL1FgOVsXA&t=394s

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is a financial backer and high-profile user of Nostr, a growing social media protocol. This is an excerpt from Nick and Zach's live discussion with Bitcoin Review podcast host NVK and Damus app creator Will Casarin. Watch the full replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi2JbHWd_BM

How Vietnam, Watergate, and stagflation supercharged the libertarian movement. https://reason.com/podcast/2024/03/20... Few individuals have had a bigger impact on the libertarian movement than David Boaz, the longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute. Boaz recently turned 70 and gave a keynote address at LibertyCon, the annual gathering of Students for Liberty, in Washington, D.C. Reason's Nick Gillespie caught up with Boaz to discuss the disarray in the libertarian movement, why he thinks the nonaggression principle and cosmopolitanism form the core of the movement, why libertarians can never seem to take wins when they get them, and whether there's anything to look forward to in a rematch of Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden.