Ben Bayer

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, Heritage, and Conservatism's Moral Decay

Here Nikos Sotirakopoulos, Elan Journo, Onkar Ghate and I unpack the meaning of the conservative civil war about antisemitism.

youtu.be/kgur8cEOpnk?...

The Lawyers Defending Trump’s Tariffs Know They’re Un-American. Here’s How We Can Tell Legal scholars who cherry pick American history to ignore the American revolution aren’t making an accidental oversight

"Defenders of the president’s new powers may seek to justify his tariffs by citing details of English history or obscure American pamphlets. But. . .they do it in a way that blatantly ignores the founders’ love for liberty and hatred of unchecked tyranny."
new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/the-lawyer...

The oral arguments about Trump's tariffs exposed so many ways in which the emperor has no clothes.

Republishing another classic New Ideal piece.

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute Mamdani's Socialist War on Gifted Kids

Here Samantha Watkins and I dissect one of the bigger scandals of the incoming Mamdani administration that not nearly enough people are talking about.

youtu.be/A1sggf9exTQ?...

Here's a discussion I had with Mike Mazza, Tristan de Liege and Professor Jim Lennox about a fascinating book on the questions in philosophy of biology that condition a naturalistic value theory

The President Has No “Foreign Policy” Discretion To Impose Sweeping Global Tariffs The president’s real foreign policy discretion over trade applies only in wartime against specific belligerents — not in perpetuity and even against our allies

My OCR piece from earlier this week, now on Substack.

new-ideal.aynrand.org/p/the-presid...

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute When It’s Rational to Blame “Both Sides”

Onkar Ghate and I discuss the “bothsidesing” charge, when it makes sense and when it doesn’t.

youtu.be/id3kFduLXVg?...

The president has no ‘foreign policy’ discretion to impose sweeping global tariffs The president’s real foreign policy discretion over trade applies only in wartime against specific belligerents—not in perpetuity and even against our allies.

From me in OCR: "The president [needs] to impose powerful embargoes against specific military belligerents during declared wars. . . . [But] Trump’s tariffs. . . have been imposed indefinitely against. . . closely allied peaceful nations."

www.ocregister.com/2025/11/03/t...

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute On Moral Sanction | Onkar Ghate

Genuine concern for justice does mean carefully choosing one's associates, and even sometimes their associates. Objectivism has stressed this for a long time. The Roberts controversy supports its validity. See Onkar Ghate's 2024 talk for more on why:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PfM...

Roberts wants to invoke a content-neutral formal "no cancellation" principle so he can excuse palling around with the increasingly irrational Carlson. The "cancellation" concept was formed to target the "woke" left but is now being used to rationalize the "woke" right.

"Cancel culture" is a poorly formed concept. It packages together irrational crusades to deplatform/fire people for honestly mistaken or even true views, with the rational deplatforming/firing irrational people. There's no content-neutral reason to oppose "cancellation" as such.

First, the discourse around "cancel culture" is empty. If you think Roberts is wrong, it's because you know something's wrong with his wanting not to "cancel" Carlson. For all of the irrationality Carlson platforms, he does deserves to be cast out of civilized circles.

If you agree with the outrage over this video, over the fact that Kevin Roberts condemns antisemitism but is unwilling to condemn Tucker Carlson for platforming it, there are some lessons about the nature of justice. 🧵

Somewhat lengthier version of the piece I just published in Skeptic.

Never Forget … or Forgive: The Ongoing Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Scandal The sexual abuse scandal surrounding Jeffrey Epstein is especially outrageous inasmuch as he used his political connections (and money) to escape prosecution for so many years. But if it’s outrageous ...

In Skeptic Magazine I ask (invoking the ghost of Epstein), “If it’s outrageous when money and power enable impunity for horrible crimes, shouldn’t it be even more outrageous when the pretense of moral authority enables someone to commit even worse crime?”

www.skeptic.com/article/neve...

Lengthy but in-depth discussion of a fascinating book by
@wiringthebrain.bsky.social on free will. I liked a lot about the book.

Here Nikos Sotirakopoulos, Ibis Slade, and Sam Weaver compare two very different critiques of so-called "woke" ideology (i.e. egalitarian collectivism), what we can learn from each, and why a deeper, more value-driven response is needed.

YouTube video by Ayn Rand Institute Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V6c...

More here, including an analysis of the concept of "genocide" and its history:
bsky.app/profile/aynr...

4) Israel does want to destroy Hamas, a group that openly announces its genocidal intent.

And since Hamas intentionally uses its own civilians as human shields, if there's genocide in Gaza -- it's on Hamas.

3) You might think Israel's war is unjust in the way it results in civilian deaths. That doesn't make it genocide.

And anyway, see point 1): a war of self-defense is just, no matter how pathetic you find the aggressors who are losing.

2) "Genocide" isn't defined by a number of deaths but by intent, the intent to destroy a group hated for prejudicial reasons.

If in making Arabs Israeli citizens and giving (undue) deference to Gazan civilians, Israel is committing genocide, it's the lamest genocide ever.

High-level summary of why "genocide" charges against Israel are absurd:

1) The paradigm case of genocide was the Holocaust. Germany was not attacked by Jews, it attacked them.

vs. Israel, which was attacked by Gazans, on Oct 7 , and has been attacked relentlessly for decades.

For the Oct 7 anniversary, Tristan de Leige and I philosophically analyze -- and skewer -- the absurd claims that Israel has engaged in "genocide."

What happened to ABC and Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t censorship. It was worse. If we don’t want to lose our freedom, we must abandon these tribal loyalties.

From Onkar Ghate and me in @ocropinion:
"To intimidate the victim to self-censor. . . . has the advantage of giving the opponents of free speech an easy cover: they can pretend their victims are acting voluntarily."
www.ocregister.com/2025/09/26/w...

Here Mike Mazza and I analyze the week’s debate about free speech and Jimmy Kimmel.

Excellent discussion of the intellectual trends that are stoking the flames of political violence in every corner of American politics.

Here Robertas Bakula and I tackle the Trump administration's morally corrupt antitrust program -- which it has borrowed unapologetically from Biden.

Here Nikos Sotirakopoulos and I challenge the stale and conventional explanations offered by thinkers on the right for the ongoing popularity of socialism.