**Review: Mastodon Decentralizes Social Media**
Elon Musk’s shambolic takeover may not have been great for Twitter, but it was fantastic for Mastodon.
https://reason.com/2023/02/17/review-mastodon-decentralizes-social-media/
**Brickbat: OK, Everyone Is Welcome**
Centennial Elementary School in Washington has backed off a plan to create a "safe space" club open only to "black, indigenous and people of color" students. After the club was announced, several white students…
https://reason.com/2023/02/17/brickbat-ok-everyone-is-welcome/
**980 New York Times Contributors Want To Sacrifice Free Inquiry to Ideology**
In an open letter, they condemned the paper's coverage of trans issues. But their note is more about what questions journalists are not allowed to ask.
**Biden Wants To Restrict Work and Flexibility for Freelancers**
Most independent contractors don’t want the PRO Act anyway.
https://reason.com/2023/02/16/biden-wants-to-restrict-work-and-flexibility-for-freelancers/
**Social Security and Medicare Cuts Are Coming, Whether Politicians Do It or Not**
As legislators refuse to act, benefits will be cut without any possibility of sheltering those seniors who are poor.
**District Court Halts New York Law Forcing Online Platforms To 'Respond' to 'Hateful' Speech**
"Today's decision is a victory for the First Amendment that should be celebrated by everyone who hopes to see the internet continue as a place where eve…
**Josh Hawley's Social Media Ban Will Make Kids More Depressed**
When COVID-19 and the U.S. government stopped kids from seeing each other, social media was their lifeline.
**FTC Commissioner Resigns To Protest Agency's 'Disregard for the Rule of Law'**
Chair Lina Khan has flouted the rule of law and due process, Commissioner Christine Wilson wrote.
**Thursday Open Thread**
What's on your mind?
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/02/16/thursday-open-thread-123/
**FIRE Proposes Model Intellectual Freedom Protection Act to Restrict Compulsory DEI Statements in Public Colleges**
Here's the text of the proposal: WHEREAS in 1957's Sweezy v. New Hampshire, the Supreme Court of the United States observed that "…
**When Key Features of a Federal Law Don't Appear in the Main Text of the U.S. Code Entry**
Wilson v. Hussman, decided yesterday by Judge Lawrence Piersol (D.S.D.) deals with a civil case brought over an alleged rape of a child on the Pine Ridge In…
**Four Months After Biden Promised Marijuana Pardons, He Has Not Issued Any**
The president reaped political benefits with his pre-election proclamation but has yet to follow through.
**Thursday Open Thread**
What's on your mind?
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/02/16/thursday-open-thread-123/
**My Article in the Journal of Free Speech Law, "Should the Law Limit Private-Employer-Imposed Speech Restrictions?"**
It's now out, in the symposium on Non-Governmental Restrictions on Free Speech. The Introduction and the Conclusion: About half o…
**Google, Section 230, & Nohemi Gonzalez**
Philip Hamburger's Op-Ed at the Federalist on a case to be argued next week
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/02/16/google-section-230-nohemi-gonzalez/
**Prof. Cynthia Estlund (NYU) in the Journal of Free Speech Law on "Can Employees Have Free Speech Rights …**
... Without Due Process Rights (in the Private Sector Workplace)?"
**U.S. Will Add $18.8 Trillion in New Debt by 2033**
Plus: Age verification for social media, a bill to ban cannabis "gatherings," and more...
https://reason.com/2023/02/16/u-s-will-add-18-8-trillion-in-new-debt-by-2033/
**May Court Order Parent Not to Rent Out Children's Bedrooms When the Children Aren't In His Custody?**
In Gardner v. McKenney, McKenney (the mother) and Gardner (the father) had joint custody, but mother sought to be appointed the primary custodia…
**What Was The Most Consequential Supreme Court Decision Over The Past Five Years?**
No, it was not Dobbs or Bruen.
**Pseudonymity and Self-Incrimination**
From the Seventh Circuit decision Jan. 27 in Roe v. Dettelbach, by Judge Diane Wood and joined by Judges David Hamilton and Amy St. Eve: This suit is about a person's right to have a gun part called a "drop-i…
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/02/16/pseudonymity-and-self-incrimination/