This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Nick Gillespie are joined by special guest Reem Ibrahim, head of media for the Institute of Economic Affairs. They begin with Jim Acosta's AI-generated interview featuring a deceased child urging gun control, using it as a springboard to discuss nationwide declines in violent crime and the political tendency to focus on banning specific tools. The conversation then shifts to the White House's decision to deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and the dangerous precedent this could set for using federal forces to address local crime.

The panel then turns to President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss Ukraine, weighing whether it could lead to peace or embolden authoritarian demands, as well as the role of European nations. From there, they examine the decision by Texas Democrats to flee the state amid redistricting battles and the FBI's efforts to locate them. A listener question from the United Kingdom prompts a conversation about free speech restrictions and the growing use of psychological studies to justify censorship, leading into a discussion of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's (FIRE) lawsuit against the Trump administration over immigrant First Amendment rights.

0:00 —Media exploitation of children for gun control

11:02 —National Guard deployed to D.C. amid falling crime rates

15:02 —Trump meeting with Putin in Alaska

25:51 —Texas Democrats flee state over GOP redistricting map

35:35 —Listener question on free speech rights in the U.K.

47:00 —FIRE lawsuit against Trump administration over protected speech

54:55 —Weekly cultural recommendations

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