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Federal Regulators Quietly Shelved Three Major Investigations Last Quarter Documents obtained through FOIA requests reveal that enforcement actions against major financial institutions were dropped without explanation in the final weeks of the fiscal year. City's Affordable Housing Fund Diverted to Consultant Contracts, Records Show An eighteen-month review of municipal spending records reveals that nearly a third of the city's affordable housing allocation went to consulting firms, not housing. All news →

The Newspaper Didn't Die. It Was Sold for Parts. The collapse of local journalism is not a market failure. It is the predictable outcome of private equity treating public institutions as inventory. On the Moral Cowardice of Epistemic Humility There is a difference between genuine uncertainty and the performance of uncertainty as a way of avoiding difficult conclusions. Our public discourse has become expert at the latter. All opinion →

How Regulatory Capture Actually Works: A Field Guide The textbook definition of regulatory capture is too clean. Here is how the process actually unfolds, in practice, across industries and decades. The Attention Economy's Bargain, and Who Is Paying for It A close look at what the business model of free digital services actually extracts, from whom, and what the downstream consequences have been. All analysis →

What We Talk About When We Talk About 'Difficult' Books The literary establishment's comfort with calling certain books difficult says more about the establishment than the books. Cinema's Nostalgia Problem Is a Thinking Problem The film industry's retreat into franchises and reboots is not primarily an aesthetic failure. It is an epistemological one. All arts & culture →

What the Replication Crisis Actually Tells Us About How Science Works The failure of a large number of published findings to replicate is not a scandal. It is science functioning as designed — just more visibly than usual. The Infrastructure Nobody Talks About: How the Internet Actually Stays On Beneath the platforms and apps that dominate public discussion sits a layer of physical and institutional infrastructure that is aging, concentrated, and poorly understood. All science & tech →

The First Gilded Age Ended. Here Is What It Took. The concentration of wealth and power in the late nineteenth century looked permanent until it didn't. The mechanisms of change are worth studying carefully. The Pentagon Papers at Fifty-Plus: What We Actually Learned The publication of the Pentagon Papers is remembered as a triumph of press freedom. The deeper lesson — about institutional deception and its durability — is less often drawn. All history →

On Your Coverage of Regulatory Capture A reader with thirty years in federal regulatory work responds to our field guide. On Epistemic Humility and the Academy A philosopher takes issue — respectfully — with our characterization of performed uncertainty. All letters →

The Age of Reason A systematic critique of revealed religion that cost Paine his reputation and nearly his life — written while he awaited execution in a French prison. Common Sense The pamphlet that argued for American independence with plain reason rather than legal precedent — and sold 500,000 copies in a population of three million. Browse by Subject Explore the catalogue by philosophical and historical theme. Browse by Author Full biographies and collected works for each author. View full library →

The Freethought Glossary The philosophical vocabulary of the freethinking tradition, defined rigorously. The Thought Experiment Library Classic thought experiments given serious treatment — what they prove, what they don't, and what remains unresolved. The Freethinker's Bookshelf A curated reading list for the intellectually curious. Every entry tells you what the book does and where it goes wrong. The Trials of Thought Landmark trials where ideas were the defendant — from Socrates to Rushdie. View all projects →

The Fifteen Puzzle Slide the tiles back into numerical order. A pure puzzle of logic and spatial reasoning. Freethinking Trivia Ten questions spanning philosophy, science, and the history of ideas. Answer carefully. Word Scramble Reconstruct a famous freethinking quote from its scrambled words. Crossy Road Help a small dog cross a busy road. One hop at a time. Don't get hit. View all games →

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