Issue November 2015 - Reason (2024)

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Reason is the monthly print magazine of "free minds and free markets." It covers politics, culture, and ideas through a provocative mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews. Reason provides a refreshing alternative to right-wing and left-wing opinion magazines by making a principled case for liberty and individual choice in all areas of human activity.

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in this issue

DepartmentsThe GOP’s Nativist SummerWHEN DONALD TRUMP first theatrically escalatored down the Trump Tower foyer and into our political lives on June 16, few commentators were predicting that the billionaire reality TV star would spend his summer dominating the Republican 2016 field, let alone driving a sustained debate over one of America’s most intractable policy challenges.No, they were too busy laughing. The Washington Post’s Philip Bump headlined his reaction, “Donald Trump’s spectacular, unending, utterly baffing, often-wrong campaign launch.” National Review’s Kevin D. Williamson was even more withering: “Witless Ape Rides Escalator.”Attracting special scorn was the real estate developer’s incoherent 123-word rant about Mexicans: “When do we beat Mexico at the border? They’re laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they’re…6 min

DepartmentsContributors“Junk Science and Campus Rape” (page 32) tracks reason Staff Editor Robby Soave’s investigation into the man who made conventional wisdom out of the idea that most sexual assaults against college students are committed by dangerous repeat offenders. Soave, 27, began focusing on higher education issues while writing for his university’s newspaper, The Michigan Daily. “This niche has only grown more fascinating over time, as so many college campuses ramp up their efforts to curtail free speech and due process,” he says. “It’s really fulfilling work—students (and their families) are very grateful that someone is telling their stories.”A Ph.D. student in history at Berkeley and a fellow at the Independent Institute, Anthony Gregory specializes in American legal institutions and theory. “I’ve always been fascinated by the Constitution and legal protections…2 min

Departments25 years ago in reason“The demand on cabs has more than doubled the market value of a medallion in the last 10 years. [Taxi driver Robert] Lynch says he…tried to purchase a medallion from a broker but was unable to meet the price, now $100,000 or more. Those prices have kept a lot of drivers like Lynch out of the market, which has increasingly come under the control of large feet operators.”—Prabhat Mehta, “To Catch a Cab”“Now that the Berlin Wall has fallen and communism has retreated, there seem to be very few dragons left for the United States to slay. True, Saddam ‘Beast of Baghdad’ Hussein has some potential as a villain. But many commentators have decided that, with the Soviets down for the count, the chief threats to America will be economic,…1 min

DepartmentsCitingsThe death of Sandra BlandThree Days in JailEd KrayewskiBLACK LIVES Matter activist Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell in Waller County, Texas, in July, three days after being arrested during a traffic stop over her alleged failure to signal a lane change. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officer who pulled her over, Brian Encinia, accused Bland of resisting arrest. Dashcam video of the incident showed Encinia arresting her after she refused to put out a cigarette.Authorities say Bland committed suicide, hanging herself using a garbage bag and privacy partition. Her family is skeptical of that, saying she had just traveled from her home in Illinois to Prairie View, Texas, to start a new job at a college there. Her death garnered national and international attention,…12 min

DepartmentsQuotes“Oh, you played a prostitute in a movie? I played a nurse in a p*rno. Does that qualify me to talk about working conditions in hospitals?”—tweet from adult film actress Stoya, responding to a celebrity campaign against decriminalizing prostitution, July 26“Children only are being put in more danger when marijuana is kept illegal.”—part of pro-legalization text accidentally posted to the D.A.R.E. website, July 27“[Banning foreign condoms] will simply make one more disciplined, more strict and discriminating in choosing partners, and maybe will do a favor to our society in respect to solving demographic problems.”—former Russian health chief Gennady Onishchenko, commenting on a proposal from that country’s Industry and Trade Ministry to ban all condom imports, The Moscow Times, August 5“Unborn black lives also matter.”—former Rep. Ron Paul in a column…1 min

DepartmentsBrickbatsPolice in Merseyside, England, have agreed to pay £5,000 to settle a false arrest claim by George Wilson. Wilson was arrested for giving a homeless man £1 by a police officer who thought it was a drug deal.Albuquerque frefighter Matthew Sanchez has resigned after snapping at a 911 caller trying to keep a teenage shooting victim alive. Sanchez was working as an emergency dispatcher at the time. The caller got angry when he repeatedly asked if the boy was breathing. “He is barely breathing, how many times do I have to [expletive] tell you?” she said. “OK, you know what ma’am? You can deal with it yourself,” Sanchez responded. Then he apparently hung up the phone. The victim later died.The state of Georgia has sued Carl Malamud, owner of governmentwatchdog…2 min

Issue November 2015 - Reason (2024)

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