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The country's favorite blue-collar champion calls attention to the 'skills gap' and asks why young men spend so much time online. https://reason.com/video/2023/07/19/mike-rowe-on-well-paying-dirty-jobs-nonprofit-whiskey-and-male-decline/ _______ Mike Rowe is a bestselling author, Emmy winner, and podcaster best known for his stint hosting The Discovery Channel's long-running Dirty Jobs, where he performed the sort of work we all rely on but don't want to think about too much. From cleaning septic tanks to putting hot tar on roofs to disposing of medical waste, he's done it all—and loves to talk about the value of the hard, honest work that he thinks is devalued by a society fixated on sending everyone to college. I caught up with Rowe at FreedomFest, an annual gathering held this year in Memphis. We talked about how his mikeroweWORKS Foundation matches young people interested in learning trades with employers dying for applicants, why men continue to fall farther behind women in school and work, and how Knobel Whiskey, named after Mike's maternal grandfather, is fueling his nonprofit's impact. Photo Credits: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons;Mikerowe.com;Mikerowe.com/Ben Franze; Paul Souders / Danita Delimont Photography/Newscom; Bill Vaughan/Icon SMI 726/Bill Vaughan/Icon SMI/Newscom; Tom Williams/Roll Call Photos/Newscom; CHAD CAMERON/UPI/Newscom. Music Credits: "Robot Revolt," by Alex Growl via Artlist.

Instead of reducing exposure to toxic chemicals, California’s Prop 65 resulted in cancer warning labels on everything from toasters to trees.

People think the world is getting worse, but when we spoke with Penn Jillette 11 years ago he said the world is actually getting better.

"It's absolutely reached a crisis point," Institute for Progress's Alec Stapp says of the bureaucratic red tape holding up clean energy projects. Watch the full replay of Alec Stapp's live conversation with Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe: youtube.com/watch?v=refvxpYFOB0

Was Operation Warp Speed a good investment? Alec Stapp of the Institute for Progress says it's an easy call. Watch the full replay of Alec Stapp's live conversation with Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe: youtube.com/watch?v=refvxpYFOB0

Texas Medical Center tried to eliminate birds on campus but the unintended consequence was a 7,300% increase of venomous caterpillars.

"We're seeing presidential candidates in the next election kind of running away from this huge success," says Alec Stapp of the Institute for Progress. Watch the full replay of Alec Stapp's live conversation with Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe: youtube.com/watch?v=refvxpYFOB0

RFK Jr.’s appeal to libertarians is his opposition to war and COVID mandates, but he’s still a big government liberal who favors AOC’s Green New Deal and opposes nuclear energy.

Good intentions, bad results. Watch the whole series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lUrH4Sbgh8&list=PLBuns9Evn1w9XhnH7vVh_7C65wJbaBECK&index=1 Do you know a great moment in unintended consequences? Leave a comment or email us at comedy@reason.com. ----- Part One: Net Benefits The year: 2012 The problem: Birds are congregating on the Texas Medical Center campus and doing…bird things. The solution: Attach nets to the large oak trees on campus, forcing birds to take their business elsewhere. Sounds like a great idea, with the best of intentions. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out, birds eat bugs. With the birds gone, the trees became a haven for cute furry-looking critters that happen to be North America's most venomous caterpillar. Contact with these toxic misery tribbles can cause intense radiating pain, vomiting, fever, convulsions, paralysis, and even death. With nets up and apex predators gone, researchers determined the population of these comb-over pain merchants increased by a whopping 7,300 percent. Bad news for anyone, but especially a vulnerable population seeking health care at, say, oh, I don't know, a medical center campus. You know what they say: Flock around and find out. Part Two: Prop Comedy The year: 1986 The problem: toxins in California! The solution: Proposition 65! A ballot initiative that included a provision making it illegal for businesses to "expose individuals to chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without first giving clear and reasonable warning." Sounds like a great idea, with the best of intentions. What could possibly go wrong? When the warning requirements were established in 1988, 235 chemicals made the cut. Today there are over 900 compounds on the Proposition 65 list, including alcoholic drinks, Chinese-style salted fish, and wood dust. Even cocaine is on the list, so if your eight ball doesn't have a warning label, your dealer is breaking the law. With penalties for noncompliance including fines of up to $2,500 per violation per day and overzealous litigators looking for their cut, business owners came to the rational conclusion that the cost of a label was less than the cost of litigation. The result? Warning labels everywhere regardless of the severity of risk or degree of exposure. In bars, restaurants, hotels, spas, ski resorts, schools, and Disneyland. On golf clubs, lamps, toasters, kids toys, sunglasses, potato chips, pancakes, pumpkin puree, and even trees. These signs have become so common that one study found Californians have learned simply to ignore them. But, we don't wanna get sued either, so… Warning: This video contains information on Prop. 65, known to the state of California to cause ambiguity between things that are dangerous and things that are harmless. For more information, go to holycrapthisisreallynotworkingoutthewaywehadplanned.ca.gov Part Three: Cold Hard Cash The year: 2005 The problem: Greenhouse gases are destroying the planet! The solution: A system devised by the United Nations (U.N.) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changerewards companies disposing polluting gasses with carbon credits, which can later be turned into cash. The more harmful the gas being disposed, the more credits are awarded. Sounds like a great idea, with the best of intentions. What could possibly go wrong? Hydrofluorocarbon-23 (HFC-23), a manufacturing byproduct of the common coolant hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22 (HCFC-22), was seen as particularly harmful, allowing a large number of credits when destroyed. So manufacturers—predominantly in India and China—ramped up production of the coolant, creating more of the dangerous byproduct, which they immediately destroyed. The system netted the manufacturers tens of millions of dollars a year. Some producers made twice as much from the tax credit than from sales of the actual refrigerant. Increased manufacturing of the coolant, itself a contributor to global warming, kept the market price competitively low, discouraging air conditioning and refrigeration companies from switching to less harmful alternatives. When the U.N. announced a plan to stop the scheme, Chinese producers threatened to vent their huge stockpile of the gas directly into the atmosphere—what some activists labeled environmental extortion. Nice climate you got there. Great moments in unintended consequences: good intentions, bad results. Do you know a great moment in unintended consequences? Email us at comedy@reason.com. Photo credit: Carterhawk/Wikimedia

The COVID-19 pandemic and the government's response to it costmillions of lives and trillions of dollarsand resulted in a major hit toglobal freedom. What should governments, private companies, and individuals do differently next time disaster strikes? Alec Stapp, co-founder of theInstitute for Progress, has assembled a team devoted to analyzing and applying the lessons of the pandemic. The institute has published papers arguing that Operation Warp Speed was a success that should be duplicated, for greater investment in indoor filtration, and for better biosurveillance. Join Reason's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe this Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern on YouTube or Facebook for a live conversation with Stapp about how to prevent the next global catastrophe. WaPo: Opinion - Biden’s vaccine project needs to be more like Operation Warp Speed - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/02/biden-vaccines-next-gen-operation-warp-speed/ Indiana University/RAND study: Vaccines may have averted up to 140,000 US deaths - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9937640/ GAO: Operation Warp Speed analysis - https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-319.pdf Eric Topol on slowing FDA approval until after the 2020 election - https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1314979190555340800?s=20 Institute for Progress: How to re-use the Operation Warp Speed model - https://progress.institute/how-to-reuse-the-operation-warp-speed-model/ Institute for Progress: Research into far-UVC could prevent future pandemics - https://progress.institute/response-to-the-epas-request-for-information-on-better-indoor-air-quality-management/ Institute for Progress: Weighing the cost of the pandemic - https://progress.institute/weighing-the-cost-of-the-pandemic/ Our World in Data: Vaccine innovation by type - https://ourworldindata.org/vaccination Our World in Data: Land use by energy source - https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-per-energy-source Alec Stapp in The Atlantic: What Many Progressives Get Wrong About Climate Change - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/capitalism-clean-energy-technology-permitting/671545/ Institute for Progress: The Case for High-Skilled Immigration - https://progress.institute/the-case-for-high-skilled-immigration/

Is the American flag a symbol of conservatives? “Don’t assume somebody with an American flag is a conservative,” says Bridget Phetasy. “Everybody is an American.”

Are people really fleeing their home countries to get to one of the 40 least peaceful nations on Earth? The 2023 Global Peace Index ranks the United States 131st out of 163 countries. That’s lower than Haiti, Cuba, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Columnist and podcaster Bridget Phetasy talks about things California is doing wrong.

Politicians love to promise cannabis decriminalization if it includes a federal tax. Here’s why that's a terrible idea.

The anti-vax environmental lawyer is not worthy of the rehabilitation tour he's getting from pundits and podcasters. ----- Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit that warns of the possible dangers posed by vaccines, used to receive a modest 119,000 monthly visits to its website. When COVID hit and public skepticism of the medical establishment exploded, the site's web traffic went wild, peaking at 5 million monthly visits. Who's behind this group that warns of the alleged dangers of electromagnetic radiation and a "global cabal" attempting to ban meat? The group's chairman, chief legal council, and highest compensated officer is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who recently launched a longshot bid to become president of the United States. RFK Jr. is not worthy of the rehabilitation tour he's getting from various pundits, podcasters, and tech luminaries.He pushes tabloid-quality "reporting" and he wildly extrapolates from little grains of truth. His and his organization, Children's Health Defense, give opponents of vaccine mandates and government overreach—like me—a bad name by lumping us together with science-denying anti-vaxxers. Kennedy frequently mistakes correlation for causation, gets his numbers wrong, and portrays complex trends as simpler than they really are, with easily identifiable villains. Libertarians who understand the incompetence of government entities should be more skeptical that the World Health Organization would be so effective at carrying out such a nefarious scheme. Kennedy has chaired Children's Health Defense for the last eight years, speaking at events all over the country on its behalf. He used his famous last name to add the veneer of respectability to the anti-vax cause. In fact, he's been focused on this single issue for decades now: In 2005, he first became obsessed with the preservatives in vaccines, writing an article for Salon on the danger of vaccine additives that needed five corrections appended to it and was later retracted. He's not really a persecuted truth-teller—although recent attempts to go after Joe Rogan for having him on his podcast, or to cut him out of public debate in other ways, have fed that impression. The real issue is that RFK Jr.'s bold claims don't hold up to scrutiny, even when examined by people who don't have a dog in the fight. So what would RFK Jr. be like as president? Part of his appeal, to libertarians at least, is that he's staunchly anti-war and a huge critic of COVID lockdowns and mandates. But he's fundamentally a big-government liberal.He supports Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal. He favors heavy-handed government intrusion in the realm of environmental policy. He's against nuclear energy. He favors massive wealth redistribution, saying: "I don't think huge disparities in wealth are healthy for our country or healthy for democracy." What's surreal about libertarians now embracing RFK Jr. is that he's publicly fantasized about jailing his political opponents and cracking down on free speech for years. At the People's Climate March in 2014, Kennedy said this: "They should be in jail. I think they should be enjoying three hots and a cot at The Hague with all the other war criminals who are there. Do I think the Koch brothers should be prosecuted for reckless endangerment? Absolutely." He's not a real free speech advocate, and he's not especially thoughtful about the principles or people he endorses. After all, this is a man who once heaped praise on Hugo Chávez, touting the socialist dictator's bogus literacy programs and alleged commitment to democracy. Is it fair to hold 15-year-old soundbites against RFK Jr., as some of his fans that I've sparred with have claimed? One thing I'll say for him is that, unlike most politicians, he's been extraordinarily consistent in his views. He thinks the world is divided into heroes and villains, and he makes wild, unsupported claims that portray things as simpler than they are. The difference is that he's no longer a widely ignored crackpot environmental lawyer. He's asking you to vote him into the White House. Produced by Liz Wolfe; edited by Regan Taylor; audio mix by Ian Keyser. Music Credits: "Formational," by Lance Conrad via Artlist; "Flying Above the Sun," by Yehezkel Raz via Artlist.

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

Reason’s Matt Welch talks about government involvement of social media censorship on CNN.

"I've heard many people on the left sort of hyperventilating about the consequences of this decision for black Americans," says @ColemanHughesOfficial of the Supreme Court's recent ruling on affirmative action in college admissions. Watch the full replay of Nick Gillespie's live conversation with Hughes and Walter Olson: youtube.com/watch?v=s7A6GW0SCZ8

"This is not a normal Court," President Joe Biden said while criticizing the Supreme Court's recent affirmative action ruling. Is he right? Watch the full replay of Nick Gillespie's live conversation with @ColemanHughesOfficial and Walter Olson: youtube.com/watch?v=s7A6GW0SCZ8

RFK Jr. says he would decriminalize cannabis, but add a federal tax for drug rehabilitation, and psychedelics.

In two much-anticipated decisions, the Supreme Court struck down the use of race-based affirmative action in college admissions and upheld the right of a web designer to decline to create products celebrating same-sex marriages. Writing for the 6–3 majority in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, Chief Justice John Robertssaid that when it came to admissions at public and private universities, "Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it…. The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual—not on the basis of race." In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, Justice Neil Gorsuchwrote for the 6–3 majority that the government can't compel expression. "The opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong," he said. "Tolerance, not coercion, is our Nation's answer" to differing points of view. Are these good decisions from a libertarian point of view? Do they expand freedom or legitimize discrimination against minorities? What will the actual effects be in terms of college admissions and retail commerce? Join Nick Gillespie, the Cato Institute'sWalter Olson, and podcaster Coleman Hughesfor a live, freewheeling discussion of two of the most controversial Court rulings in years.

A new complaint argues that legacy admissions violate the Civil Rights Act

Próspera Inc. is creating a voluntary free market mini-state inside one of Latin America's poorest nations. ----- "Próspera is the first time in human history that a group of people has said there's a way to deliver governing services, privatized for profit in a completely free market way," says Joel Bomgar, a Mississippi state representative and president of Próspera Inc., the company that's building a privately run charter city on the Honduran island of Roatán called Próspera Village. In Honduras, about half of the population lives in extreme poverty, and gross domestic product per capita is 25 times higher than in the United States. And yet the country has abundant natural resources and is close to major shipping lanes. The problem is governance: Nobody wants to invest in Honduras because the country has a long history of political instability, expropriating private land, and legal agreements that aren't particularly binding. Honduras is ranked 154th out of 190 countries in contract enforcement on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index and 133rd overall in ease of doing business. Narco gangs once made Honduras the murder capital of the world, and though crime has dropped in the last 12 years, life there is still extremely dangerous in comparison to the U.S., which is one reason so many Hondurans make the risky journey to immigrate. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported more than 73,000 encounters with Hondurans at the U.S.-Mexico border so far this year. Recently, the country's politics have been especially turbulent: A president was ousted by the military in 2009, and another was extradited to the U.S. for drug trafficking. The nation recently elected its first democratic socialist president, Xiomara Castro, who has called for a "refounding." She wants to rewrite the constitution to recognize that "the capitalist system doesn't work for the majority" of people. She's calling for electricity to become a "public good…and a human right" and is laying the groundwork for the outright nationalization of the entire energy sector. And she's spending billions on cash transfers. "Every millimeter of the [Honduran] homeland that [capitalists] took over on behalf of the sacrosanct free market…was watered with the blood of the native people," said Castro, who ran on abolishing the very law that authorized Próspera and similar zones in Honduras, in a September 2022 speech to the United Nations. "My government has embarked upon a process of national rebirth and is bringing profound change." Meanwhile, a group of foreign investors has embarked on its own "refounding" of sorts. They've started a radical experiment in private governance, which they hope will become a model for how to create prosperity in poor countries all over the world. "The concept of free private cities and charter cities, specifically what Próspera is trying to do, is the most transformative project in the world," says Bomgar. "There's not a big financial hub in Central America. There's not a sort of Singapore of Central America right now. And so that's what we're trying to create." Produced by Zach Weissmueller; edited by John Osterhoudt; camera by Jim Epstein; translation by María Jose Inojosa Salina. Photos: TEDxJackson/Flickr/Creative Commons; TEDxJackson/Flickr/Creative Commons; Everett Collection/Newscom; Everett Collection/Newscom; Inti Oncon/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/Si/Newscom; Inti Oncon/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; Simon Liu/Flickr/Creative Commons; Seth Sidney Berry/SOPA Images//Newscom; Seth Sidney Berry/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Milo Espinoza/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Milo Espinoza/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Gustavo Amador/EFE/Newscom; Milo Espinoza/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Humberto Espinoza/EFE/Newscom; Seth Sidney Berry/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Seth Sidney Berry / SOPA Images//Newscom; Album/Oronoz/Newscom; Gustavo Amador/EFE/Newscom; 總統府/Flickr/Creative Commons; 總統府/Flickr/Creative Commons; Seth Sidney Berry/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom

Economists Gene Epstein and David Friedman debate how best to persuade people to become libertarians at the Porcupine Freedom Festival. ------- On June 23, 2023, at the Porcupine Freedom Festival ("PorcFest") in Lancaster, New Hampshire, economists David Friedman and Gene Epstein debated the resolution: "The right way to persuade people of libertarianism is by showing them that its outcomes are superior by their standards, without any resort to the flawed nonaggression principle." Taking the affirmative, Friedman reviewed key arguments set forth in his 1973 book, The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism. He sees the nonaggression principle, or NAP, as incoherent and unnecessary for convincing nonlibertarians to accept libertarian solutions to societal problems. Taking the negative, Epstein argued that what he prefers to call the zero-aggression principle, or ZAP, often plays an essential role in defending the libertarian case for reform, pointing to the case for abolishing drug laws and tariffs. The debate was moderated by PorcFest organizer Dennis Pratt. Camera by Chris Silk; edited by John Osterhoudt.

Are trans activists fighting for freedom or to increase authoritarianism? Q&A with British journalist and pundit Brendan O'Neill. Listen to the full interview: https://reason.com/podcast/2023/06/21/brendan-oneill-a-heretics-manifesto/ O'Neill, the former editor of Spiked, has a new collection of essays, A Heretic's Manifesto: Essays on the Unsayable, that covers heated topics such as attacks on J.K. Rowling by trans activists; dismissals of populist moments that gave rise to Brexit, Donald Trump, and Emmanuel Macron; and the refusal by elites to own up to their mistakes related to COVID lockdowns.