Season 2014 2014 - 2015

1st NEW show of 2014 at 9pm tonight w @3dCannabis @JohnHCochrane & @pwrhungry. @tony4ny & @BasilSmikleJr join our #partypanel

Tonight's live episode of Fox Business Network's The Independents, which airs at 9 pm ET and then repeats again at midnight, will feature some fascinating interview subjects. Brandon Bryant, profiled in recent GQ piece titled "Confessions of a Drone Warrior," will explain the ins and outs of delivering death by remote control. And Detroit Police Chief James Craig will explain just why he thinks having an armed citizenry would make the Motor City a safer place.

There will also be a dissection of Rep. Peter King's attacks on Sen. Rand Paul over NSA spying, with GOP strategist/Sun Sentinel columnist Noelle Nikpour and Russell Simmons Political Director (!) Michael Skolnik; plus discussion about the fall of Fallujah, the advent of Blue Monday, and a science teacher losing more than 30 pounds by eating at McDonald's.

Tonight's episode of The Independents, which airs on Fox Business Network live at 9 pm ET and then repeats again at midnight, will feature a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces grappling with how to make the world more free.

Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds (Reason archive here) will be on to talk about his new book, The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself. John "Show-Me Cannabis" Payne (Reason archive here) will talk about the awful case of Jeff Mizanskey, a nonviolent pot offender in Missouri who is seeking clemency after serving 20 years of a life sentence. Party panelists Rich Benjamin (a Demos senior fellow) and Jedediah Bila (Fox News contributor) will be on to discuss President Barack Obama's latest speech on unemployment benefits and Dennis Rodman's latest foray into totalitarian diplomacy.

Also under discussion: Former defense secretary Robert Gates' White House-slamming tell-all, Oklahoma City's statehouse Satanists, and Kennedy excursion into the Polar Vortex to ask Times Square visitors just what the hell they're doing outside.

Tonight's episode of The Independents, which airs on Fox Business Network live at 9 pm ET and then repeats again at midnight, starts with a discussion of, well, independents, or at least the people who describe themselves that way when Gallup asks them to identify their politics. Conservative Kayleigh McEnany and liberal Steve Leser will try to explain why the public ain't buying what the two major parties are selling, then they'll react to the latest revelations about what some are calling retributive lane-closing possibly engineered by members of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's political team.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado) will come on to talk about legal pot and what Congress should do to ease the drug war, and Rep. Rush Holt (D-New Jersey) will talk about his efforts to repeal the PATRIOT Act and protect whistleblowers like Edward Snowden. John Stossel will preview his Thursday night show on income inequality, Kmele Foster will survey #ThingsThatOffendLiberals, Kennedy will talk about (and maybe demonstrate?) drinking too much, and I have been given exactly 30 seconds to explain why we should care that some old sportswriter shouting at clouds helped prevent Craig Biggio from entering baseball's Hall of Fame because maybe some guy once said that he "felt" like Biggio maybe took steroids some time.

Friday night episodes of your favorite new cable news television program, Fox Business Network's The Independents, are organized around a theme, as opposed to being ripped from the day's headlines. Tonight's is on a subject familiar 'round these parts: That mixed-up, shook-up, no-hope cohort of post-1980 humans known as millennials.

Are our nation's younguns on the wrong end of generational larceny? Weekly Standard Assistant Editor Jim Swift says the math is terrible and the politics worse. Has the postwar higher education system systematically undervalued vocational tech, to the point that millions of unskilled jobs go unfilled, even during a recession? Dirty Jobster Mike Rowe breaks down the numbers. Meanwhile, discussing technology, 9/11, gay marriage and more, are millennial panelists Andrew Kirell of Mediaite, Jill Filipovic of Feministe, Sebastian Rea of Tribeca Film, and Josh Nass of Voices of Conservative Youth.

The main event may be a three-on-one interview with Rolling Stone's Jesse Myerson, author of a controversial piece last week titled "Five Economic Reforms Millennials Should Be Fighting For," including such gems as "Make Everything Owned By Everybody." (Nick Gillespie in these pages called Myerson's efforts "sad" and "incredibly stupid.") Highlights from the discussion include Kennedy trying to redistribute Myerson's tie, me trying to trade Myerson's guaranteed universal income for the abolition of the welfare state, and Kmele Foster attempting to explain that "value" is subjective.

Finally, the show ends with a generational smackdown featuring Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney.

Tonight's episode of The Independents, which airs on Fox Business Network live at 9 pm ET and repeats at midnight, features an interview with a real life independent Senator, none other than the Vermont "democratic socialist," Bernie Sanders. Indie Bernie will talk about his inspired little stunt a few days back of asking the National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander whether the NSA is now or has ever been spying on members of Congress, and also explain how his idea of an expanded social safety net can co-exist with exploding entitlements.

Also appearing on the show: Washington Times Senior Opinion Editor Emily Miller, who drew the ire of many libertarians last week when she Tweeted that "No one gets prison for just smoking pot," and wrote a column warning that "Stoned citizens will further burden the dependency society." Panelists tonight include Democratic political strategist Basil Smikle and Lawfare Project Director Brooke Goldstein, who will chew on Hillary Clinton's reported hit list, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's promotional/acting skills, and the passing of Israel warhorse Ariel Sharon.

Other topics: Alex Rodriguez's historic steroids suspension, French President Francois Hollande's daring attempt to act as French as humanly possible...plus penis pumps, 420 signs, Times Square costume creeps, and more! Remember to heckle The Independents on Twitter at @IndependentsFBN; some of the more choice efforts will be displayed during the broadcast.

Because of pre-emption by live event coverage, tonight's episode of The Independents will first air at midnight ET instead of 9 PM on Fox Business Network. The show will mix pop culture banter with the heaviest of heavy topics, the latter including yesterday's not-guilty verdict of the Fullerton cops who beat the homeless and schizophrenic man Kelly Thomas to death in 2011. Thomas' father Ron—who Kelly was desperately crying out for on the infuriating, heartbreaking video of his fatal beating—will be on the show to discuss his reaction to the verdict. Read Reason's coverage of the case at this link.

Also up for discussion: President Barack Obama promises/threatens a flurry of Congress-bypassing executive orders, which some might say contradict his criticism of executive power back before he was president. And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tries to put the bridge scandal behind him in his State of the State Address. Addressing both will be New Jersey Republican type Bill Spadea and 52 Reasons to Vote for Obama author Bernard Whitman.

Or not. |||In teenagers-misbehaving news, nosediving heartthrob Justin Bieber had his house ransacked by cops who reportedly found an ecstasy variant called "Molly" while investigating, um, a potentially $20,000 egg-tossing incident; also, new study proves* that MTV's 16 and Pregnant leads to fewer teen births. Plus: The Pope auctions his Harley, Kanye West sues the Bitcoin-inspired "Coinye West" out of existence, and more.

Tonight when the gong strikes 12 in the east, your latest episode of The Independents will roll off the Fox Business Network factory shelves. (As in last night and also this coming Friday, the usual 9 pm hour is pre-empted by live coverage of the Barrett-Jackson car auction.) This installment is jam-packed with hot libertarian action, including:

Andrew Napolitano talking about the National Security Agency, America's recently reaffirmed internal checkpoints, President Barack Obama's fondness for executive power, and the tension between Obamacare's contraception mandate and nuns.

John Stossel previewing his Thursday night documentary about the regulatory war on the little guy, and how stuff like that is causing the U.S. to slip in global indices of economic freedom.

Handsome laddie. |||* Beloved Reason Senior Editor Peter Suderman discussing the latest Obamacare setback, and also what this week's appeals court ruling means for Net Neutrality.

TV's Andy Levy on the bitchy letter sent by several senators to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association about the use of e-cigarettes on the Golden Globes broadcast; plus the Los Angeles City Council's latest brilliant idea for a $15 hotel-worker-only minimum wage, and Beyonce's flawed gender stats.

In addition to these topics there will likely be devil babies, Francois Hollande's First Lady coin-toss, shark stunts gone horribly wrong, and more.

The Friday night installments of The Independents on Fox Business Network have been organized around a single theme, such as sex, or sports, or millennials. Tonight, to play it safe, we've decided to take the scarequotes off of "conversation about race," and see what happens when you try to talk real about a really difficult topic.

So! The broadcast starts straight away with a clash between Rich Benjamin, author of Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America, and Deneen Borelli, author of Blacklash: How Obama and the Left Are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation. The two tussle it out over code words, whether "Obamacare" is racist, and more. Then comedians Sherrod Small and Jim Norton join co-hosts Kmele Foster, Kennedy, and Matt Welch in debating the R-quotient of everything from Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst, to Miley Cyrus' twerking, to Michael Richards' comedy-club N-strafing of a heckler, to Joe Biden's weird remarks about Indians at 7-11s. How and why does so much comedy seem to hinge on poking the outer limits of comfort on stereotypes? Tune in at midnight ET to find out.

I dunno, maybe xenophobia played a LEETLE role? |||Then, to calm things down a bit, it's time for a discussion with FBN host and longtime immigration-policy critic Lou Dobbs on whether xenophobia has had anything to do with the immigration debate in the United States, and whether that matters. Then Benjamin and Borelli are back to talk about whether the drug war is racist, and even whether talking about racial disparities in enforcement policy or other outcomes is a good or bad thing. And since that scab won't pick itself, Kmele Foster then produces audible winces by dropping a few N-bombs and talking about the double-standards of acceptable speech in 2014 America.

You will give air-high-fives, you will throw things at the television set, you will laugh, you will scream, but I'd wager that you will be entertained and intrigued by thi

Tonight's live episode of The Independents reverts to its usual 9 pm ET slot on Fox Business Network, which is probably a good idea given that the two panelists are Vice magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes and ex-Reasoner Michael C. Moynihan. (You wouldn't want to see what these people look like at midnight....)

The McMoynihan brothers will be talking about, among other things, President Barack Obama's weird interview in The New Yorker, the upcoming Weed Bowl between Denver and Seattle, Dennis Rodman's return visit to rehab, bloody street battles in Ukraine, and the latest trouble in the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics.

After Kennedy demonstrates some of the more ridiculous laws on the books in New York, Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes will discuss laws and government requirements that have a more tangible negative impact on people's lives. And in a rematch of sorts after he tussled with Kennedy over the issue on The O'Reilly Factor Friday, Foundation for Defense of Democracies President Clifford May will take exception to the libertarian interpretation of surveillance by the National Security Agency.

The "Keeping it Kmele" segment will be an examination on this MLK Day of how various partisans try to appropriate Martin Luther King for their own political goals, and other topics that may or may not be brought up include hockey fights, Lena Dunham, Spanx, and weird rocks on Mars. As always, send tweets to @IndependentsFBN and they may get used on air.

INDEPENDENTS ASSEMBLE! Tonight at 9 pm on your favorite new cable television news talk show, former congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul will deliver his verdict on President Barack Obama's lukewarm "reforms" of the surveillance state (I will give you a wild guess). Paul will also talk about how Edward Snowden should be treated back home, and how a certain senatorial son of his might galvanize the growing anti-surveillance sentiment in the country.

"Progressive messaging expert" Richard Fowler will be on the Party Panel alongside former congressman Rick Lazio (R-NY) to talk about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's pivot against the drug war during his second inauguration today, and also Patrick J. Kennedy's panicky pivot away from alcohol-prohibition comparisons. Eligible for further discussion will be death penalty cruelty in Ohio, and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's superior approval ratings to those of Barack Obama.

Also on the show will be beloved Reasoner Jim Epstein, to talk about his great piece from earlier today on how the real villain in Chris Christie's bridge scandal is the sprawling and corrupt bureaucratic mess, the New York-New Jersey Port Authority, which is a classic case of Progressive-era anti-corruption "reform" that ended up exacerbating the underlying problem.

Not convinced yet? How about a round of "Ask the Communist" with Rolling Stone property-appropriator Jesse Myerson? Or a follow-up Kmele Foster-led round of "Is it Racist?" starring ASU frat-douches, Rob Ford's latest Jamaican-accented drinking binge, and the Twitter feed Yes, You're Racist. Send your hi-fives and sucker-punches to @IndependentsFBN and they may get used on air.

Wednesday night episodes of Fox Business Network's The Independents (9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, repeats at midnight) have tended to be libertarian red-meatathons...so no reason to stop now. Did you want Andrew Napolitano talking bracingly about politicians and journalists who would throw Edward Snowden under the Espionage Act bus? You got it. John Stossel explaining how you can conclude that mankind is contributing to the warming of the planet without wishing to regulate capitalism out of existence? Check. And multi-show Fox News degenerate (and smashing television success) Greg Gutfeld talking about how hanging out with liberals makes you conservative but hanging out with conservatives makes you libertarian? You betcha.

The Party Panel tonight consists of National Review writer and The End Is Near and It's Going to Be Awesome author Kevin Williamson, and comedian Tom Shillhue, who will talk about Obamacare's impact on full-time work, Obama's initiative to combat campus sex-crime, the military's enthusiasm for death-robots, and the proposed American pullout from Afghanistan.

Other topics likely to come up: Violent crackdowns on jaywalking, the 15-pound baby, Katy Perry's wish to talk aliens with Obama, Kanye West's latest Kanyisms, and Jen "Big Booty" Selter's big new sports deal. And sealing the deal will be a dramatic reading of viewer hate mail, including choice selections from last night's comments string!

TBA

Tonight's live episode of Fox Business Network's The Independents (9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, repeats at midnight) will feature an in-studio interview with all-purpose entertainer, bullshit-detector, and super-libertarian Penn Jillette. The conversation with taller, louder half of Penn & Teller will range from his participation in the Rachael Ray Vs. Guy Fieri Celebrity Cook Off to tomorrow's State of the Union address to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's semi-ultimatum for the U.S. to negotiate with the Taliban or get the hell out of Afghanistan.

In an exchange that will likely be less friendly, Kevin Sabet of the pot-prohibitionist SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) will be on to talk about the split over marijuana between President Barack Obama and Drug Enforcement Administration Michele Leonhart. Tonight's Party Panelists, Townhall Political Editor Guy Benson and Russell Simmons Political Director Michael Skolnik, will talk about the emergence of anti-NSA electoral politics, Hillary Clinton's (lack of) driving record, and Democrats' personal hypocrisy on minimum wage. And the Topical Storm will cover Angry Birds snooping, Sochi's gay-free population, Quentin Tarantino's copyright lawsuit, and whether Beyonce's booty is appropriate for television.

As always, send your tweets out to @IndependentsFBN and they may get used on air.

Tonight's live episode of Fox Business Network's The Independents will come at you midnight eastern, 9 pm Pacific, and will include ex-Reasoner Michael C. Moynihan, Vice magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes, FreedomWorks President/CEO Matt Kibbe, and Democratic political strategist Basil Smikle, along with some hoo-larious historical footage, demonstrations of foolish laws, and other hijinks. Tweet it out at @IndependentsFBN!

Tonight's live episode of Fox Business Network's The Independents (9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, repeats at midnight) will feature a sobering reminder: Never miss the online-only "Independents After Hours" (which streams at the website just after 10 pm, including tonight). Why? Because you miss some seriously free-wheeling, structureless conversations with the various beautiful freaks who populate the show. Like Monday's conversation with Penn Jillette, a solid chunk of which has been edited down for consumption tonight.

Also on the program: Party Panelists Buck Sexton from The Blaze and Andrew Kirell from Mediaite will be on to discuss the divergent GOP approaches to welfare politics, President Barack Obama's mixed foreign policy messages in last night’s State of the Union address, what Justin Bieber’s many troubles tell us about immigration policy, and New Jersey’s butt-hurtedness about not getting enough revenue from the Super Bowl.

Intense journalist Charlie LeDuff will be on to talk about his book Detroit: An American Autopsy, recently retired NFL cornerback Chris Carr will discuss what it’s like to be a libertarian-leaning independent in a professional locker room, and Independents heartthrob Kmele Foster will tell us the latest news about Bitcoin (you may even see a snippet from our recent Reason.tv video on same). Also eligible for discussion: The farm bill, Jay Carney's beard, Duck Dynasty's SOTU-selfies, Vin Diesel's dance moves, and more. And REMEMBER: Make sure to watch the after-show, and send your tweets out to @IndependentsFBN.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (9 pm ET, 6 pm PT on Fox Business Network, repeats at midnight and throughout the weekend), provides the kind of Super Bowl coverage that you can probably only find on...The Independents!

For instance: Executive Director Allen St. Pierre of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) will talk about what the "Weed Bowl" matchup between two cities from states where recreational marijuana is legal means to anti-Drug War activists (as well as to the partiers in Denver and Seattle). NFL.com analyst Dave Dameshek will describe some of the bizarre superstitions and rituals practiced by football players and fans alike. Comedian Sherrod Small and Fox Business Network reporter Sandra Smith will play a game of Super Bowl Fact or Fiction, with questions ranging from domestic violence to 9/11 to a bunch of other stuff that's actually funny.

Actress Katie Aselton of the raucous fantasy-football FXX show The League will relay what she's learned about the world of online sports and why smack-talking bro-dude shows like hers & FXX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia resonate with viewers. We'll also talk hangover cures, including footage from a Reason.tv feature on a hangover truck in Las Vegas. And the show's creme de la avocado will be an all-pro guacamole-making contest between myself and the shouty host-lady.

If you haven't seen it yet, make sure to check out our interview with the thoughtful libertarian cornerback Chris Carr. And as always, send your tweets out to @IndependentsFBN.

It's Monday night, which means The Independents is backatcha live at 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT on Fox Business Network (with a midnight-hour repeat), injecting some hot buttered libertarian weirdness into the cable-news slipstream.

Tonight's show begins where Friday's Super Bowl episode left off—with Super Bowl commercials, particularly the two that have generated the most (and most pointless) political controversy: Bob Dylan's Chrysler stunt, and Coca-Cola's multilingual rendition of "America the Beautiful." Commenting on these, as well as on Philip Seymour Hoffman's heroin overdose and the recent confessions-of-a-TSA-snooper essay in Politico, will be Wall Street lawyer-turned comedian Paul Mecurio, and criminal defense attorney-slash-TV commentator Remi Spencer.

Then joining the show for a couple of segments will be former congressman, recent New York mayoral loser and two-time sexting scandal protagonist Anthony Weiner, who is slated to discuss (among other things) Washington's latest debt ceiling fight, President Barack Obama's combative interview with Fox host Bill O'Reilly, and the rather remarkable confession that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) made last week during his confirmation hearing to be America's next ambassador to China.

Michael Malice, author of a new unauthorized biography of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il titled Dear Reader (as well as of a great 2013 Reason feature "My Week in North Korea"), will be on to talk about the horrors of the Hermit Kingdom. And the "Keeping it Kmele" segment tonight will use Janet Yellen's first day on the job as Fed chief to take a closer look at the Federal Reserve. Other topics that may come up on the show include Joe Namath's sartorial awesomeness, the post-game show's 9/11 truther, Bill de Blasio's groundhog (not a euphemism), and beer drones.

There will be a live-stream after-show available on the website, and as always, send your tweets out to @IndependentsFBN; some may be used on

We're talking Obamacare, #NSA, immigration, cockfighting, and The Walking Dead on tonight's show! #INDfbn

Tonight @mcmoynihan guest hosts! We'll be joined by @SenJohnBarrasso, @David_Boaz , @SantitaJackson and @jolingkent #INDfbn

What is the aim of @SenRandPaul 's NSA lawsuit? @mkibbe joins us tonight

The Cult of Presidency tonight w/ @Judgenap @ThaddeusRussell @AmityShlaes @dbongino @notjessewalker @GeneHealy & guest co-host @mcmoynihan

Tonight's live episode of The Independents on Fox Business Network (9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, repeats at midnight) will kick off with some dueling Carneys: White House Press Secretary Jay, who spent the day tweeting FACTS about the 5-year-old birthday boy stimulus package, and Washington Examiner columnist Tim, who tends toward a more skeptical view.

GOP Deputy Communications Director Sarah Isgur Flores and progressive communications consultant Christy Setzer will duke it out over Secretary of State John Kerry calling climate change a "weapon of mass destruction," plus NBA great Charles Barkley's interview with President Barack Obama about the Affordable Care Act, and the comments from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that the Republican Party needs to transform or die.

Also on the show: A demonstration of dumb laws, colleges attempting to ban drinking games, giant horrifying snowballs, and favorite almost-presidents. Send your tweets at #indFBN, and log onto the show website at 10 pm to catch a live-stream of the sexy aftershow!

The world's on fire, so The Independents tonight (9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, repeats three hours later) will be talking about the world. Panelists Michael C. Moynihan of The Daily Beast (Reason archive here) and Scottie Nell Hughes of the Tea Party News Network will talk about the latest clashes between the opposition and the government in Venezuela. Also scheduled to be on the show on the ground from bloody, clash-wrecked Kiev is reporter Alexander Kleimenov. Former United Nations ambassador John Bolton will chime in to discuss the Iranian nukes deal and the latest horrifying reports to come out of North Korea.

Tired of the world? How about Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst and Reason.com columnist Andrew Napolitano talking about how Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is a big fat liar? Or the federal minimum wage, an increase of which the Congressional Budget Office predicts will reduce the net number of jobs? Or perhaps you want to hear Kmele Foster talk about why it's okay for Kansas to legalize business-place discrimination against gays?

There will still be time to discuss naked dating, Edward Snowden action figures, Jones Act salt barges, and more. BUT MOST EXCITING is that the sexy online-only after show, streamed on the show website at 10 pm, will include YOUR PHONE CALLS. The phone number, which you really need to not call until then, is 1-877-249-9626. And as always, send your tweets at #indFBN, and some can and will be used against you.

As per tradition, the Wednesday installment of The Independents (9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, repeats three hours later) serves up some prime libertarian red meat.

Onward: Kicking off the show tonight is a certain Texas gentleman named Ron Paul, who will offer the non-interventionist perspective on Ukraine, as well as the latest on his petition to grant Edward Snowden clemency. Beloved Fox Business Network broadcaster and Reason.com columnist John Stossel will preview his Thursday night show about the rise of campus libertarianism, as manifested at a recent Students for Liberty conference he and the other Independents co-hosts attended. Former George W. Bush press secretary and current co-host of The Five Dana Perino will provide some behind-the-scenes insight on speaking on behalf of power.

The party panel, consisting of Democratic Party strategist Julie Roginsky and National Review’s Charles W. Cooke, will tackle spanking, Pussy Riot, and the War on Women, pretty much in that order. Topical Storm topics will include but not be limited to anti-porn crusaders buying up all the sexy-time T-shirts, and Ted Nugent doing what Ted Nugent always does. And in the segment people for some reason seem to love most, your withering emails, tweets, and Hit & Run comments (and I do mean YOURS), will be read aloud, by the one and only Bernie Maxsmith.

Send your tweets to @IndependentsFBN, hashtag 'em #indFBN, and let the red meat commence!

What are the pharmacological distinctions between the drugs we take and the drugs we prohibit? Not so bloody much, we learn tonight on The Independents at 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT (with repeats three hours later).

First up on the show is Columbia University neuropsychopharmacologist Dr. Carl Hart (watch his Reason.tv interview here; read an edited transcript of a presentation he gave at a Reason event here), who will talk about the similarities between meth and Adderall, and how the histories of discrimination and prohibition are inextricably linked. Next will be an interview about performance-enhancing drugs (including those taken by classical musicians!) with bodybuilder-turned filmmaker Chris Bell, director of Bigger, Stronger, Faster*.

Next we turn to a discussion of classic drug scares, from Krokodil to bath salts to Molly to spice to absinthe to ice. Then comedian Dave Hill joins us as a contestant on the side-effects gameshow, Name That Drug. Psychiatric-medication skeptic Peter Breggin comes on to explain why he opposes prescribing behavioral medication to children, and why he thinks anti-depressants don’t work. Carl Hart then comes back to debate Fox News Legal Analyst and former prosecutor Lis Wiehl about the pros and cons of legalization and decriminalization.

Throughout the show Kennedy will obviously be assaulting people in the streets of New York about their drug habits, and the episode ends with a plea by Kmele Foster to (what else?) abolish the Food and Drug Administration. Send your tweets to @IndependentsFBN throughout, hashtag ‘em #indFBN, and BYOD!

The Olympics are over, kids (so is would-be 9 o'clock rival Piers Morgan, shhhh!!!), so it's time to get serious about your viewing, commenting, sharing, and recommending of The Independents on Fox Business Network.

Tonight's live at 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT (with repeats three hours later), features indie filmmaker and all-around hooligan Gavin McInnes teaming up with comedian Sherrod Small to provide panelisty goodness on the following topics: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel proposing to shrink the Army down to pre-1941 levels, journeyman center Jason Collins becoming the first openly gay athlete to play in one of America's four major professional sports, the advent of the three-way embryo, the arrest of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the public implosion of Alec Baldwin, and the NFL's proposed 15-yard penalty for using the N-word on the playing field.

Former Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell will be on to talk about the FCC's now-cancelled newsroom study, and hopefully also the latest goings on with Netflix. We will also talk to freedom fighter Robin Speronis, who has been told by Cape Coral, Florida authorities that she has one month to plug into the grid, or else face consequences. The Topical Storm segment may or may not include the dreaded taco waffle, the Royal Family's secret veto power, and milk propaganda.

Send your tweets to @IndependentsFBN throughout, hashtag 'em #indFBN, and remember to stay tuned for the sexy online-only after show, streamed on the show website a tick or two after 10 pm.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, with repeats three hours later), will start with a discussion of Arizona's controversial Senate Bill 1062, which would allow businesses in the Copper State to discriminate against gays, even though they can totally already discriminate against gays. Chewing on the matter will be party panelists Deroy Murdock of National Review Online and Jehmu Greene of Define American. The two will also square off on the California hedge fund manager reportedly ready to throw $100 million of climate-change money into the U.S. political process, and a petition to get Charles Krauthammer removed from the Washington Post op-ed page for crimes against climate opinionizing.

President Garrett Walker, also known as House of Cards actor Michel Gill, will be on to talk about his show, and cynicism in politics. Young Americans for Liberty Executive Director and former Ron Paul campaign official Jeff Frazee will talk about his political action committee’s efforts to influence the 2014 elections. And everyone’s (least?) favorite commie, Jesse Myerson, will be on for another Ask a Communist segment, this time with more Venezuela.

Send your tweets to @IndependentsFBN throughout, hashtag #indFBN, and remember to stay tuned for the sexy online-only after show, streamed on the show website just after 10 pm.

Did you ever want to see what a cable news show would like with a Reason editor as the host? Well, regardless of that, tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT; repeats three hours later), is notable for the absence of main host Kennedy, who's on the emergency DL with an unspeakable disease of some sort. However, keeping with the Wednesday tradition, tonight's episode will serve up quivering, bloody hunks of libertarian red meat.

For instance: The WWE wrestler known as Kane (real name Glenn Jacobs) talks about how writers like Murray Rothbard led him down the path to libertarianism, and how the limited-government message resonates with the independent contractors that populate his industry. Speaking of Glenns, Mr. Greenwald joins the fray for two segments at the top, to talk about the British government's online reputation-destroying system, his approach in publishing Edward Snowden secrets, whether he truly fears coming to New York in April, and whether he is now or has ever been friendly with libertarians. Also, beloved Reasoner Nick Gillespie talks about what President Barack Obama's budget tells us about the near-term prospects for entitlement reform.

Seriously, watch for the black helicopter in the background during his spot. |||Panelists Dagen McDowell (Fox News correspondent) and Tom Shillue (comedian, tall person, harmonizer) talk about real man of genius Joe Biden, particularly his comments about Obamacare bringing "freedom" to single moms with bad jobs. The duo also weigh in on the president's truly awful $300 billion+ transportation proposal.

There will be no earrings to critique tonight, just sadly neglected earring-holes. Nevertheless, send your tweets to @IndependentsFBN, use the hashtag #indFBN, and otherwise keep the sartorial critiques right here on this comments thread!

As is the Friday tradition, tonight’s episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, with repeats three hours later) is organized around a theme: In this case, in honor of Sunday’s 86th annual Academy Awards, we present our “Grouchy Oscars,” a list of best and worst movies, performances, and historical Oscar picks. Helping out is an all-star panel of outstanding movie reviewers—the New York Post’s Kyle Smith, and Reason.com’s own Kurt Loder.

Also on the program is beloved former Reason editor Virginia Postrel, who will be talking about the intersection between Hollywood and the subject of her book The Power of Glamour: Longing and the Art of Visual Persuasion. Also, producer-author Lynda Obst will talk about her business-model book, Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales from the New Abnormal in the Movie Business. And yes, we’ll be talking about Hollywood subsidies.

Send your tweets to @IndependentsFBN throughout, use the hashtag #indFBN, and see you in your best gowns!

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT; repeats three hours later) will start off with an extended look at Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and what that says about American politics and political discourse (in addition to actual, um, Ukrainians). Joining in that effort will be on-the-ground reporter Jared Morgan in Kiev, former CIA dude Buck Sexton from The Blaze, and tonight's Party Panel of Sun Sentinel columnist and "GOP/Republican strategist" Noelle Nikpour and "Democratic/Liberal pundit" Steve Leser.

Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes will be on to discuss I.J.'s work in trying to legalize compensation for bone marrow transplants. Kmele Foster will give the what-for to President Barack Obama's "My Brother's Keeper" initiative. New York Mayor Bill De Blasio will get a rhetorical shiv or two in the ribs for his decision to start croaking Gotham charter schools. The party panel will also be back with post-game comments about last night's Oscars.

Tonight’s live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT; repeats three hours later) starts again with the latest from Ukraine, this time with commentary from panelists Michael C. Moynihan of The Daily Beast (Reason archive here) and filmmaker/TakiMag weirdo Gavin McInnes.

The M&M boys are also slated to comment on President Barack Obama's shiny new $3.9 trillion budget proposal, Washington, D.C.'s decision today to decriminalize marijuana, and the difference—if there is any—between Ted Nugent and Donald Trump.

Beloved Reason Senior Editor Peter Suderman will be on to discuss the latest anticipated delay in Obamacare, and the law's stubborn unpopularity among the very people it was intended to help most. Beloved Reason.tv Producer Jim Epstein will describe today's rally against New York Mayor Bill De Blasio's policy of shutting down charter schools. And Reason-comments heartthrob Kmele Foster will break down Apple CEO Tim Cook telling investors who do not believe that humankind is warming the planet to "get out of this stock."

The online-only after-show tonight can theoretically be seen at this link, and is sure to be at least PG-13. As per usual, tweet out to @IndependentsFBN, use the hashtag #indFBN, and some of your snark may be used live.

What was that we were saying about Red Meat Wednesdays on The Independents? Tonight on Fox Business Network at 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT (with repeats three hours later), you can see the one & only P.J. O'Rourke talk about his new book, Baby Boom: How it Got That Way (and it Wasn't My Fault) (and I'll Never Do it Again).

Also on tonight's show, Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst and Reason.com columnist Andrew Napolitano will talk about news that National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander is looking to criminalize journalistic publication of national security leaks, and whether that means we should be rooting for a federal shield law. Funnymen Jim Norton and Michael Ian Black will speed through a number of contested topics—former IRS official Lois Lerner's non-testimony in front of Congress today, Diet Coke's "You're on Coke" advertising campaign, the Government Accountability Office's report that Michelle Obama's healthy school-lunch initiative is making kids gag, a would-be Alabama congressman's shameful-or-awesome past as a maker of toilet-cam political vids (you can view an example here), and the latest idiotic vaping ban in Los Angeles.

Other topics may include the Duke porn actress who came out today, China's increasing military budget, Chipotle's mixed messages on whether climate change will drive guacamole off the menu, and the 10-year-old kid suspend from school for making finger-guns.

Follow the @IndependentsFBN on Twitter, use the hashtag #indFBN, and go to the show website for previous-episode video and more.

Tonight on Fox Business Network at 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT (with repeats three hours later), The Independents will produce a special show on the topic of guns. Leading off will be a discussion of mass-shooting events and background checks, featuring Colin Goddard, who describes the awful events at Virginia Tech in 2007, and Reason Senior Editor Damon Root. Next, Washington Times columnist Emily Miller, author of Emily Gets Her Gun: …But Obama Wants to Take Yours, details the arduous process she went through to obtain a handgun in the District of Columbia after suffering a home invasion.

Former National Rifle Association president David Keene talks about the NRA's penchant for blaming shooting events on culture, and deals with a question about marijuana legalization; Kennedy goes shooting with 3-D gun visionary Cody Wilson; NRA member and Fox News personality Geraldo effing Rivera talks about why he's fallen out of love with the gun-rights group, and Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst and Reason.com columnist Andrew Napolitano will advocate—wait for it!!—legalizing the individual ownership of nuclear weapons.

It's a crowded house tonight on Fox Business Network at 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, when your favorite three-month-old cable television news program comes at you live from beautiful midtown Manhattan. Tonight’s episode of The Independents will include but not be limited to:

• Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado), currently my favorite Democrat in the House of Representatives, will talk about his inspired stunt last week to defend Bitcoin by sarcastically proposing to ban the dollar.

• International affairs professor and great-granddaughter of you-know-who Nina Khrushcheva, will talk about Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea.

• Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo, a.k.a. the Luis Fortuño of the Marianas, will talk about the tiny U.S. territory’s fiscal turnaround under his watch. It’s a press release-worthy event!

• Party Panelists Kayleigh McEnany ("Conservative writer and commentator") and filmmaker/TakiMag beardsmith Gavin McInnes will be on to talk about Justin Bieber’s punchable deposition, Edward Snowden’s South by Southwest performance, the awful celebrity campaign to "ban" the word "bossy," and the libertarian strains at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

And throughout the show we'll be doing some BREAKING NEWS LIVE UPDATES of the sure-to-be-thrilling Senate Climate Change-a-thon.

Have you heard the one about the man on Death Row being freed any moment now after serving 30 years for a murder that the state of Louisiana now believes did not throw off enough evidence to lead to the man's arrest, let alone execution? It's a harrowing tale, championed by the Shreveport Times, and will be the subject tonight of discussion on Fox Business Network's fab television program The Independents, at 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, with repeats three hours later. Joining the show to talk about the case will be Marc Hayden from Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, who were one of the subjects of this recent Reason.tv video.

Other topics include: Lousy (though beautiful-eyed) Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) getting all huffy about the CIA spying on her precious, transparency-hating Intelligence Committee; President Barack Obama's hoo-larious turn on Zach Galifianakis's Between Two Ferns chat-show; and new studies proving that Millennials are basically independent atheists who hate social conservatives and never work. Chewing on this topic will be Party Panelists Bill Spadea (New Jersey Republican) and Dan St. Germain (beardy comedian).

Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore recently made headlines at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by saying that "Edward Snowden is a traitor and a coward," so he'll be on to talk about that. Also, Republican senators keep smacking each other in the face with Ronald Reagan, so that will occasion some discussion. And although Reason-comments heartthrob Kmele Foster is taking his talents elsewhere tonight (something about a fancy "play" on "Broadway"), we’ll still be Keepin' it Kmele, with... Michael C. Moynihan??? And a million An-Cap hearts asplode....

We know you like your Red Meat Wednesdays on The Independents, so tonight at 9 pm ET (6 pm PT, with repeats three hours later) we tie the napkin to your collar and start shoveling up bloody hunks.

Like Ron Paul! The beloved three-time presidential candidate will be on to talk about the catfight between the CIA and its longtime enablers on the Senate Intelligence Committee; and also about his occasionally controversial views on Ukraine, Russia, and Crimea.

What about Peter Suderman? The Reason heartthrob will discuss the latest bad news about Obamacare, including its role in Florida's special election yesterday.

Did we mention TV's Andy Levy? The contrarian Red Eyester will square off with Lawfare Project Director Brooke Goldstein over Iran, whether violent rap lyrics should be admissible as evidence in murder trials, and a curious new poll about Americans' views on the comparative harmfulness of pot, alcohol, tobacco, and sugar.

So, who is Kristin Cavallari? She is that gal over to your right, host of the new E! fashion/beauty show The Fabulist, serial star on television programs about Laguna Beach, much-followed (and little-following) Twitterer, and wife of perennial target of Chicago hatred, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Host Kennedy engages Cavallari about politics, pot, gay marriage, and vaccines, and the results are...interesting.

And finally, there will be your favorite segment, Two Minutes Hate.

For tonight's special theme episode of your favorite nightly cable chat show, Fox Business Network's The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later), host Kennedy puts libertarians on the couch.

Social psychologist and moral-values measurer Jonathan Haidt explains the unique set of values and personality traits found most commonly among libertarians, a theme he explores further in this Reason.tv video. Right-leaning hawks Ralph Peters and Stephen Hayes beat us up for our "naive" foreign policy. Left-leaning commentators Alan Colmes and Lynn Parramore argue with us over regulation and the safety net. Fox News Legal Analyst and former prosecutor Lis Wiehl takes issue with our anti-prohibition stance. Heritage Foundation fellow Ryan Anderson whacks us for supporting gay marriage.

Topping the sundae, Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson (see his 2010 Reason.tv interview here) argues why capital-L Libertarianism beats small-l libertarian Republicanism. And we'll share a raft of information about how, despite whatever defects of libertarians, libertarianism is gaining a bigger and bigger foothold among Americans at large.

It's a nifty and contentious show, pass it along!

As apparently happens whenever a celebrity mom talks about the (non-existent) link between vaccines and autism, the interview attracted some notice: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, NY Daily News, Us Magazine, Deadspin, Huffington Post, Salon, and so on. Well, as print subscribers already know, Reason’s April edition includes an incisive cover-debate on the issue of mandatory vaccinations, and so we’ll devote a block to the subject on tonight’s episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT.)

That would be Tim Moen, described by Nick Gillespie as "a Canadian who is apparently the first federal Libertarian Party candidate to run for Parliament from the Fort McMurray-Athabasca area in Alberta." Moen is also an "organizational leadership consultant, storyteller, appreciative inquirer, dad, husband, anarchist, firefighter/paramedic," so he's got that going for him.

Also on the show is Reddit co-founder, serial entrepreneur, and irritatingly successful Millennial Alex Ohanian (or should I say O'Hanian, amirite?), author of the new book Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed. Speaking of Irishmen, Kennedy went out to the mean streets of midtown Manhattan for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, and the results may just make you re-think your stance on legalizing alcohol.

The Party Panel, composed of Rich Benjamin (Demos senior fellow) and Paul Mecurio (Wall Street lawyer-turned comedian) will discuss the latest excruciatingly awful White House Obamacare propaganda, and the latest irredentism on Russia's Western flank. Keepin' it Kmele is back, with gruesome tales of Airbnb orgies gone horribly wrong. The sexy aftershow will be live-streamed on the website, and please send your tweets out to @IndependentsFBN; some may be used on air.

I know, I know, MISSING AIRPLANE, but did you hear the one about the Wyoming welder who built a duck pond on his farm, reportedly in full compliance with local officials, but then got hit with an Environmental Protection Agency fine of $75,000 per day? His name is Andy Johnson, he's not paying a dime of it, and he'll be on tonight's episode of The Independents on Fox Business Network (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT).

Did you hear the one about Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) finishing first among potential GOP presidential candidate in a recent CNN/ORC poll (something his father never managed), winning a Northeast Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, and attracting such Washington Post headlines as "It's time to start taking Rand Paul seriously"? Party panelists Jedediah Bila (Fox News contributor) and Santita Jackson (extremely busy media person) will discuss this, as well as the latest news about the National Security Agency RECORDING AND STORING EVERY SINGLE PHONE CALL, maybe.

Have you heard of a popular recording artist named Akon? Me neither, until Kmele Foster gave me a tutorial today, but he'll be on the show talking about his plans to provide solar electricity for one million Africans, and his, uh, dating and cohabitating advice. And later we'll be doing some Mystery Science Theater-style action on Vladimir Putin's latest crazy speech.

Red Meat Wednesday on The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT) usually means too many libertarians chasing too few segments. Tonight is no different.

Kicking off the show is Fox News double-host and rejected Reason intern Greg Gutfeld (read our interviews with him from October 2009 and March 2013), talking about his spanking new book, Not Cool: The Hipster Elite and Their War on You.

Then the Party Panel, consisting of "Progressive Messaging Expert and all around good guy" Richard Fowler and beloved Internet libertarian Julie Borowski of FreedomWorks, talks about the social-issue split between Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the Democratic Party's weak presidential bench, and NASA's goofy study predicting civilizational collapse.

The 18-year-old porn actress, Duke University freshman, and self-described libertarian Belle Knox stops by for an interview. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education President Greg Lukianoff comments on the outrageous case of a UC Santa Barbara Feminist Studies professor seizing an anti-abortion protester's sign, calling her a "terrorist," then pushing her. Other topics that may or may not come under discussion include tequila, Hillary Clinton, Bronies, and March Madness vasectomies.

Friday night editions of The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with repeats three hours later, on Fox Business Network) are organized around a single theme, and tonight's is about what happens when you attempt to apply cost-benefit analysis and the scientific method to environmental problems such as (but not limited to) the warming of the planet. Before we get to any of that, watch our interview from earlier this week with Wyoming welder Andy Johnson, who is getting threatened by the Environmental Protection Agency with fines of up to $75,000 per day for the sin of building a fully permitted duck pond on his property

Chilling stuff. Anyway, "Environmentally Challenged" starts off with a contentious interview about global warming impacts and policies with serial debater Bill Nye the Science Guy. Next comes a discussion about the science of the stuff with Climate Depot skeptic Marc Morano (once tabbed by Media Matters as the "Climate Change Misinformer of the Year") and Center for American Progress Director of Climate Strategy Daniel J. Weiss, who refused to debate directly with Moreno, and chided us for airing his views.

New York Times science writer and friend o' Reason John Tierney is next with an update on his classic and controversial 1996 piece, "Recycling is garbage." Followed by "skeptical environmentalist" and cost/benefit addict Bjorn Lomborg, who talks about comparatively inexpensive solutions to pressing environmental problems, and vice-versa. Energy economist Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute discusses fracking and future energy sources, and beloved Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey talks on one of his favorite themes: how things are actually getting better all the time.

Tonight, The Independents is back live on Fox Business Network (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with repeats three hours later) with a show that features liberaltarian jackalope Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-El Paso), that rare Democrat who has used a Tea Party-style primarying strategy to knock off an incumbent over an issue that the party's base has been serially disrespected by the establishment: in this case, marijuana prohibition. (Read Mike Riggs's interview with O'Rourke from January 2013.) O'Rourke will be on talking up a new bipartisan bill he's co-sponsoring to create more oversight and accountability for the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection, particularly involving use-of-force incidents and invasive drug searches.

The Party Panel tonight consists of Winston Group pollster and Daily Beast contributor Kristin Soltis Anderson, with Washington Free Beacon staff writer Lachlan Markay. They are slated to discuss the latest developments and conspiracy theories about the downed Malaysian passenger jet and Russia's aggressions on its western flank, plus Hawaiian cops and their hooker habit.

Last week the New York Observer had an article about a goofy new proposal in Albany to create a tax credit for TV shows that staff their writing rooms with non-whites and non-males. Over the weekend I called the idea "idiotic," and as a result Lowell Peterson, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, East, has volunteered to set me straight. Speaking of dumb laws, Kennedy's back with her latest segment demonstrating on the mean streets of midtown Manhattan behavior that is illegal in places like Meriden, Connecticut.

The episode will end with a discussion of Jimmy Carter's misguided faith that his snail-mail communications will be any less surveilled than his phone calls and sexts.

If I can't interest you in tonight’s episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT), then I don't know what.

Leading off the show is a discussion about reforming the National Security Agency with Ron Paul's heir in the House of Representatives, Liberty Movement fave Rep. Justin Amash (R-Michigan). (See Amash's Reason TV interview here.) The fascinating, sui generis documentary filmmaker Errol Morris will be on to talk about his latest profile of Donald Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known. If that's not quite enough heavy history-of-the-present, how about some sharp analysis of the Russia-Crimea-Ukraine-Moldova situation from Nina Khrushcheva, the international affairs professor and great-granddaughter of you-know-who.

Sold yet? Consider that tonight's Party Panel is none other than Reason Managing Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward and Red Eye libertarian charmer TV's Andy Levy, who will talk about everything from Obamacare delays to Manhattan nukes to Venice Beach drum circles. Oh what's that you say? You want to hear from John Carter Cash about the brand spanking new album he unearthed of his father's (and mother's) 1980s material? Done and done.

It's a great show and you should tell your friends!

Didn't get enough of Reason Managing Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward on Wednesday's episode of The Independents? Well, she's back tonight at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT, with repeats three hours later) on Fox Business Network, talking about–what else?–the Singularity.

That is because the weekly theme episode this time around is all about robots—smart machines that will (depending on who you talk to) liberate us from work, diagnose our strokes, drive our cars, modernize our economies, blow up our enemies, end humanity as we know it, or merely vacuum our houses while consoling us about the dwindling human race.

Never forget. |||Kicking things off on a fearful note is James Barrat, author of new book Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era, which Ron Bailey reviews here. Followed by George Mason University associate economics professor Robin Hanson, who is decidedly more upbeat. Brookings Institution scholar P.W. Singer, author of Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know, will talk about robot sand-fleas; and Dr. Yulun Wang of InTouch Health will demonstrate his fancy diagnostic robot friend. Competitive Enterprise Institute Fellow Marc Scribner will talk about driverless cars, R Street Institute Senior Fellow Lori Sanders will talk about our jerbs, and the co-hosts will talk about their very favorite robots from audi-visual entertainment history.

Do you, for one, welcome your new robot overlords? I for one am not so sure, but the show will give you plenty of raw material to chew on either way. Remember: Follow the show on Facebook and Twitter, and go to this link for a playlist of previous segments. WEEKEND REPEATS: "Rise of the Machines" will re-air over the weekend at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) both Saturday and Sunday. And at 2 a.m. this evening/morning, we will be repeating the Wednesday show featuring Rep. Justin Amash (D-Mich.), documentarian Errol Morris, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and TV's Andy Levy from Red Eye (whic

Monday's live return of The Independents on Fox Business Network (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with repeats three hours later) kicks off with beloved Reason Senior Editor Peter Suderman counting us down to the "deadline" to sign up for Obamacare, and what all the confusing numbers mean. Party Panelists Santita Jackson (Fox News contributor) and Basil Smikle (Democratic political strategist) then join to discuss the the #CancelColbert nonsense and Bill Maher's surprising racism switcheroo with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Michelle Obama. The duo will also discuss Gwyneth Paltrow's hard-out-here-for-a-movie-start parenting lament.

Then: Did you hear the one about Los Angeles politicians seeking to investigate whether fracking caused some recent earthquake activity in Southern California? UC Davis Physics and Geology Professor (and Openhazards.com Chairman of the Board) John Rundle joins to break down the science. Rachel Boynton is the director of an acclaimed new documentary called Big Men, about oil extraction in Ghana; she's on next. Then the show finishes with discussion about what the long-suppressed Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture tells us about waterboarding for Bin Laden.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents on Fox Business Network (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with repeats three hours later) begins with President Barack Obama's victory lap today crowing about the 7.1 million Americans who signed up for Obamacare by yesterday's sorta-deadline. Too bad a bunch of those people were just scrambling to re-insure themselves after the Affordable Care Act eliminated their previous plans, or that the administration with this law has a long track record of lying like a rug!

Joining to discuss this are Party Panelists Gavin McInnes (filmmaker/TakiMag beardy) and Brian Sack (commentator/non-Oscar winning actor), who will also have words to say about the House of Saud declaring all atheists as terrorists, the military's new allegedly racially insensitive grooming standards, Pat Robertson wanting to know why Jews are so rich, and whatever else they come up with on the aftershow, which will be live-streamed at this website.

Been following the police-brutality protests in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the wake of cops shooting a homeless man to death in the desert? Associated Press reporter Russell Contreras will break down the latest developments. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Mich.) released a new fantasy 10-year budget today, so we'll talk about that. And FreedomWorks President/CEO Matt Kibbe will be on to talk about his brand new book, Don't Hurt People and Don't Take Their Stuff: A Libertarian Manifesto.

Tonight at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT), as per tradition, The Independents will be serving up Red Meat Wednesday on Fox Business Network, starting off with the Supreme Court decision that’s turning your Twitter feed into a demonstration of schizophrenia, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. On to discuss what lifting the caps of aggregated individual contributions to federal candidates and political action committees means in the English language, let alone for the future of democracy herself, are Party Panelists Nick "Nick" Gillespie and Jehmu "Define American" Greene. The duo will also take circuitous routes to such stories as the Boy Scouts bouncing a gay troop leader, a Kansas high school inviting only black kids to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) saying that the Republican Party needs to get "beyond deportation."

Beloved Fox Business hero John Stossel will talk about his upcoming special on gambling hypocrisy; beloved Swedish person Johan Norberg will talk about how income inequality can be reflective of good economic indicators, and the show's three co-hosts will spend some time unloading on Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. And yes, back by unpopular demand is Two Minutes Hate.

This week's Friday theme episode of The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT on Fox Business Network) is on the fat-tastic subject of government spending and waste. As such, we corralled a cute lil' pig and re-christened her "Pelosi"!

Reason prince of darkness Nick Gillespie, who helps kick off the show with a tour of woe through federal spending, debt, and entitlements. Then former Lt. Col. Ralph Peters goes absolutely bonkers (in a good way!) about useless and fantastically expensive military programs. Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold walks us through his a-m-a-z-i-n-g "Sinkhole of Bureacracy" story. Kennedy then attempts to enjoy all the congressional perks on Capitol Hill (only getting thrown out a couple of times!), Adam Andrzejewski talks about his terrific "Open the Books" app, and before you can say "Napoleon" it's time to eat some delicious bacon!

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, on Fox Business Network, with repeats three hours later) will feature a Party Panel of beloved ex-Reasoners: Cathy "Sex and the State" Reisenwitz (Reason archive here), and former editor in chief Virginia Postrel. The unambiguously awesome duo are slated to discuss the Mozilla/Eich controversy, whether (in Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's words) college campuses have become "havens for rape" (or in Cathy Young's, "kangaroo courts"), and also whether we should inflate giant cartoon cats to protest men whistling at attractive ladies on the street.

Apparently a thing. |||Did you hear the one about how "Social Media Expert Says Libertarians and Rand Paul Have a 'Tremendous Opportunity' in 2016"? Well, said "expert," John J. Cardillo of The Blaze, will be on to discuss his methodology. "Skeptical environmentalist" Bjorn Lomborg will talk about the recent report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Jeb Bush the other day described illegal immigration as an "act of love," so there'll be discussion about that. And Keepin it' Kmele will be about Jay-Zs controversial "Five Percent Nation" necklace.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, on Fox Business Network, with repeats three hours later) will once again allow you, the beloved audience, to determine what we'll talk about in one of the show's Party Panels. Go to the show's Facebook page to vote: Should it be "LAPD officers tamper with in-car recording equipment" or "Yale threatens to suspend student for being too thin"? Television history rests in your hands.

Helping to work through these and other topics are Party Panelists Remi Spencer (criminal defense attorney-slash-TV commentator) and Thaddeus Russell (beloved Reason contributor). Also up for discussion: The latest OK Cupid shenanigans and related controversies, NCAA basketball champion Shabazz Napier advocating for student-athletes to get a bit more scratch, and whether (in Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's words) college campuses have become "havens for rape" (or in Cathy Young's, "kangaroo courts").

Imp! |||Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), one of the more consistently interesting creatures on Capitol Hill, comes on to talk about his challenge to GOP colleagues to prove their anti-crony capitalism bonafides by croaking the Ex-Im Bank. Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Paul Sherman argues that McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission doesn't go far enough in freeing political speech. Debt-hating, baby-faced Millennial Nick Troiano explains why he's running as an independent for Congress on a platform of "generational equity," and there'll be some discussion about a truly disturbing Department of Transportation anti-texting-and-driving public service announcement.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, on Fox Business Network, with repeats three hours later) is filled with semi-famous ladies doing interesting things. For instance, Marianne Williamson is, according to Wikipedia, a "spiritual teacher, author and lecturer. She has published ten books, including four New York Times #1 bestsellers. She is the founder of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area, and the co-founder of The Peace Alliance, a grass roots campaign supporting legislation to establish a United States Department of Peace."

Williamson is also running for Congress as an independent, and as such qualifies as the latest subject of our "Meet the Independent" series.

Then there's Judy Greer, literally "that girl from that movie/tv show," who will be talking about her new book I Don't Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star. Annabelle Gurwitch, the multi-talented former host of the TBS show Dinner and a Movie, will team up on the Party Panel with beloved Reason Contributing Editor Michael C. Moynihan. The duo is slated to talk about Hammerin' Hank Aaron's comment about modern American racists ("The bigger difference is that back then they had hoods. Now they have neckties and starched shirts"); whether today's horrific school knife attack will or should lead to calls for "knife control," Brandeis University's cowardly withdrawal of an honorary degree for Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the controversy over the unemployed Phoenix mom who left her two young kids in a hot car while she was interviewing for a job. Gurwitch-Moynihan will also participate in a mid-show game attempting to match sex scandals to politicians.

There's more! Wall Street Journal multimedia explainer Jason Bellini, proprietor of "The Short Answer," will present and talk about some of his latest work, such as this snappy vid about who gets audited by the Internal Revenue Servic

On Tuesday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), one of the more libertarian-leaning members of the World's Greatest Deliberative Body, went on The Independents to talk about his refreshing call to end, rather than mend, the Export-Import Bank, because Ex-Im is a leading contributor to crony capitalism. I wanted to follow up on this odd-sounding passage in his National Review piece on same:
Whether the beneficiaries of particular Ex-Im Bank loan guarantees are respected, successful companies like Boeing or crony basket cases like Solyndra is irrelevant. Twisting policy to benefit any business at the expense of others is unfair and anti-growth.

Lavishing praise on one company while disparaging another seems like an odd way to stress the across-the-board awfulness of crony capitalism, particularly given the centrality of Boeing to the Ex-Im story. Here's Reason columnist Veronique de Rugy, in a must-bookmark column from last September titled "Bipartisan Corporate Welfare: It's time for the Export-Import bank to go":
Back in 1981, when he was fighting to get rid of the Ex-Im Bank, [former budget director David] Stockman documented that it bestowed about two-thirds of its subsidies on a handful of giant, profitable manufacturers: Boeing, General Electric, Westinghouse, and the like. Little has changed since then, and what has changed has mostly been for the worse.

Ex-Im's own data show that bank activity is highly concentrated in a few industries—primarily aviation, gas and oil exploration, and manufacturing. The aircraft industry alone benefited from $11.5 billion worth of loan guarantees in 2012.

Boeing was the recipient of almost 50 Ex-Im Bank deals worth $12.2 billion (including insurance, loans, and guarantees). This one company, with its army of lobbyists, brought in roughly 80 percent of Ex-Im's loan guarantees.

"Respected," "successful," or not, Boeing is America's number-one welfare queen. In my opinion, as long as military spending keeps shooting through

Last week on The Independents, Reason contributor Thaddeus Russell—who teaches at Occidental College, ground zero for campus rape politics—joined panelist Remi Spencer (a defense attorney and former prosecutor) to discuss a proposal by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) to have the federal government spend an additional $100 million-plus to combat sexual assault on campus.

This is the kind of subject tailor-made for simplistic, finger-wagging politics—what kind of moral monster wouldn't want to reduce campus rape?—but at The Independents, as at Reason, we are always interested in unintended consequences and individual rights, and do not take at face value the moral superiority of those who would spend our money and enable prosecutors (including de facto prosecutors with zero track record of criminal investigation).

The classic treatment of this topic is Cathy Young's January cover story, "Guilty Until Proven Innocent: How the government encourages kangaroo courts for sex crimes on campus." One of many reasons you should subscribe to Reason today!

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, on Fox Business Network, with repeats three hours later) will, like last night's, feature as fill-in host yours truly. As a result, like last night's, tonight's associated blog post will be brief. Oh–go to Facebook to decide what we're talking about in our second panel with Gavin McInnes and Sherrod Small: That new immigration study, or the standoff in Nevada.

Basically, we'll be kicking off the show with an extended slam on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, which fills me with a very special rage. Coming on will be Trisha Moon, a resident of Canada who tore up her citizenship because of the damn-fool law.

John Stossel will talk about Tax Day and Earth Day, Dr. Carl Hart will talk about the alleged heroin epidemic, Philip Howard will talk about deadbeat laws, and the aftershow is destined to be a delightful trainwreck. Go to foxbusiness.com/independents at 10 p.m. sharp, find us on Facebook at facebook.com/IndependentsFBN, on Twitter @ independentsFBN.

The Welch reign of error in the hosting chair ends on tonight's The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, on Fox Business Network, with repeats three hours later). But that's not why you want to watch this program. You want to watch this program because it's Red Meat Wednesday, and that means hulking slabs of libertariany goodness, quivering and bleeding right there on the plate.

Like...Ron Paul! The gentleman obstetrician from Texas gives us his take on the Bundy conflict in Nevada, talks about his threat to defy the Internal Revenue Service's orders that his 501(c)4 Campaign For Liberty disclose the names of all its donors, and defends publishing at the Ron Paul Institute website a Paul Craig Roberts essay with this sentence:
The conclusion is increasingly difficult to avoid that elements of the US government blew up three New York skyscrapers in order to destroy Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah and to launch the US on the neoconservatives agenda of US world hegemony.

Reason heartthrob Nick Gillespie will be on to slag Enemy of Freedom Michael Bloomberg, who's making news this week by A) announcing a $50 million spend to defeat pro-gun control politicians, and B) giving this quote to The New York Times:
Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: "I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I'm not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It's not even close."

Best-selling funnyman Dave Barry has given two of the most memorable interviews in Reason history: One to Glenn Garvin in 1994 (sample quote: "I don't have any insight or understanding on anything about the government. All I think is that it's stupid—which is the one perspective that's almost completely lacking in Washington"), and one that was memorable mostly to me because it involved gashing my finger on a Budweiser can and actively sucking up blood while he answe

Kennedy's back in pilot's chair for the Friday night theme episode of The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, on Fox Business Network), which tonight engages the millions of people celebrating religious traditions over this weekend with a fresh look at the Seven Deadly Sins. It'll break down like this:

Lust: TV's Andy Levy Sun Sentinel columnist and "GOP/Republican strategist" Noelle Nikpour examine politician sex scandals, and ponder the public policy implications of sexy-time laws.

Greed: Fox Business super-guest and investment guru Charles Payne tries to complexify things beyond whether greed is "good."

Sloth: Beloved Reason contributor Thaddeus Russell doesn't quite defend abject sloth, but he does question the desirability and efficacy of the Protestant work ethic.

Wrath: Fox News correspondent Dagen McDowell defends righteous vengeance, while Andy Levy and the panel express more circumspection.

Gluttony: Beloved Reason.com columnist Baylen Linnken talks about the messy intersection of public policy and foodstuffery.

Envy: Everyone's (least?) favorite communist Jesse Myerson defends his political tendency against charges of enviousness, then things get shouty and sweaty.

Pride: Your hosts chew on various aspects of how pride can be a bad or good thing.

Et voila! This show shall repeat at 2 a.m., then again at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Check out our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, and click here for video of past segments.

Monday's live episode of The Independents (9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, on Fox Business Network) will feature maiden appearances on the program by two semi-beloved members of the Reason extended family: Former staffer Mike Riggs, and contributor/Masshole Garrett Quinn. Riggs, now at Families Against Mandatory Minimums, will talk about the news that the Obama administration is considering a significant (and significantly overdue) mass clemency to "hundreds, perhaps thousands" of people locked up for non-violent drug crimes. Quinn will talk about beefed-up security at today's Boston Marathon, a year after terrorism maimed dozens at the finish line.

The Party Panel tonight, composed of National Review Online contributor Deroy Murdock and Fox News contributor Santita Jackson, will talk about the foul comment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that supporters of the Bundy ranchers are "domestic terrorists," and then they will discuss whatever YOU, the people with the Facebook pages, decide between the following two topics:
Chicago Public Schools introducing Afro-centric curriculum or the 16-year-old who flew to Hawaii in a plane's wheel well. LIKE if you vote Afro-centric curriculum or COMMENT if you want to hear about the teen stowaway.

The Free Market Institute's Ben Powell (watch his Reason TV interview here) comes on to discuss his new Cambridge University Press book Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy. And Kmele Foster will have some thoughts about what happens when you challenge (his political hero) Ron Paul about publishing 9/11 conspiracy stuff.

We never promised it wouldn’t be a weird television show....Tonight on The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT), you will see the following things:

• Game show legend Chuck Woolery talking about a rumored Bureau of Land Management land-grab on the Texas-Oklahoma border.

• Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton subjecting himself to a libertarian-policy quiz on domestic policies.

• Beloved Internet libertarian Julie Borowski joining Fox Business Network reporter Jo Ling Kent on the Party Panel to talk about A) whether Canada's rising middle class is due to lefty-approved income-inequality politics or righty-favored government-slashing; B) news that the FBI is using no-fly lists to pressure Muslims into becoming informants; and C) New York Mayor Bill De Blasio backtracking on his horsey ban.

Oh, Bernie! |||* Me talking about my favorite obscure issue: How the Obama administration tomorrow will once again flout his repeated, plaintive promises to recognize the 1915-23 Armenian genocide by using the word "genocide" on April 24's Armenian Remembrance Day, because Turkey is more important to U.S. foreign policy interventionists than Armenia is.

• And your favorite segment, Two Minutes Hate! With a very, ah, different looking Bernie Maxsmith.

Friday-night episodes of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT) are based around a single theme. Tonight that theme is how the government is getting all "Up in Your Business," in all senses of all those words. For instance:

• Codifying and enforcing all kinds of ridiculously freedom-hating occupational licensing requirements, as explained by Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes.

• Delaying and degrading your experience at the airport in federally managed security-theater lines, as explored by Cato's Chris Edwards.

• Prohibiting online poker, selectively and vaguely, as testified to by professional poker player Dustin Schmidt.

• Coming up with restrictions on your private property so ridonkulous that you can't tell whether the laws are fact or fiction, as demonstrated in a game featuring as contestants Fox Business anchor Melissa Francis and Red Girls Salonista Dee Dee Benkie.

• Having ignorant health inspectors put the fear of God into conscientious restaurateurs, as elucidated by Pink Tea Cup owner Lawrence Page.

• Gratuitously disrupting centuries-old symbiotic relationships between breweries and cattle farmers, as disclosed by Widmer Brothers Brewing Company's Joe Casey.

• Teaching kiddie entrepreneurs to hate (or serve!) government, as lamented by the co-hosts.

Seriously, you people should watch this! |||The episode repeats at midnight ET and again at 2 a.m.; and also Sunday night at 7 p.m. Saturday night's 7 p.m. time-slot will feature a re-air of Wednesday's "mystery meat" show, featuring Julio Borowski and Chuck Woolery and John Bolton and Two-Minute Hater Bernie Maxsmith.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT) begins as everything else has over the past 48 or so hours: with a discussion of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, and those bizarre, racist things he said on a taped telephone conversation with his ex-girlfriend. Joining to discuss the controversies are Party Panelists Brooke Goldstein (director, Lawfare Project) and Baratunde Thurston ("Comedian, Author, Entrepreneur"). The duo will return later in the show to discuss the Secretary of State John Kerry's mildly controversial statement that Israel may end up becoming "an apartheid state."

Two-time guest Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado.) will be back, talking about what in the federal government he'd be willing to cut. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) will also join, to talk about efforts to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress, and also about his own Digital Accountability and Transparency Act. Former CIA operator and current surveillance enthusiast Mike Baker will lock horns with the co-hosts over NSA chief Keith Alexander's latest comments.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT) will include the following elements:

• Debate over the propriety of the NBA's lifetime ban of Donald Sterling for saying wacky racist stuff in a private conversation, featuring Party Panelists Charles W. Cooke (National Review) and Julie Roginsky (Fox News). Those two will be back later, debating a topic of your choice (via Facebook vote): Either Islamic insurgents surrounding Baghdad, or Louis C.K slamming Common Core.

• New York Post movie reviewer/columnist Kyle Smith talking about his funny piece calling Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century "'50 Shades of Grey'" for the Acela-corridor professional intellectual statist."(Read Garett Jones's Reason review here.)

• Some video scenes and discussion about last night's fab Vape-In.

• An interview with American hero Brian Lamb, founder of C-SPAN.

• Some discussion from co-host Kmele Foster about President Barack Obama's recent defenses of his foreign policy record.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT) will continue the recent trend toward WTF (Winning the Future!) juxtapositions on Wednesdays, as an interview with Obama-impeacher Ralph Nader transitions into a discussion on Benghazi, asteroid scare-mongering (I hope!) with Bill Nye the Science Guy presages a National Honesty Day round of mutual criticism among the co-hosts, and so on.

Party Panelists are Fox Business anchor Melissa Francis and Wall Street lawyer-turned comedian Paul Mecurio, who will discuss Oklahoma's cinematically awful execution, the U.S. economy's spectacularly sluggish growth, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's pot-sweetening in the Toyota relocation deal, and the high cost of regulation.

Friday's theme episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT) is titled "Mad World," and it's about the mixed-up, shook-up planet we live on, and what the United States government should (or shouldn't) do about it. Almost accidentally, the show has morphed into a vigorous debate over George W. Bush-era foreign policy with some of the principals involved.

He's at the American Enterprise Institute these days. |||Former Bush deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz defends the Iraq War, elevates his former boss over his former boss's father, and rejects the historical premises of the co-hosts. Original Department of Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge defends the DHS and the Transportation Security Administration, and rejects the notion that threat alerts were ever politicized. And former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton tussles with the co-hosts (and former Reagan-administration deputy defense secretary K.T. McFarland) over drones, nukes, and red lines. These segments are not what you would describe as typical exchanges on cable television.

What about China? Fox Business Network reporter Jo Ling Kent and author Gordon Chang provide some welcome context and expertise. Three-war vet and radio host Bryan Suits talks about how military deployment creates libertarians, and (of course!) there is a game in the middle of the show called "Name That Dictator," featuring contestants Tracy Byrnes and Ellis Henican.

Tonight on The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT), dream-team Party Panelists Gavin McInnes (filmmaker/TakiMag casualty) and Sherrod Small (comedian/race warrior) will be on not two but three segments, because they are insane people and why not? First three topics will be the latest on Benghazi, mop-up from the White House Correspondents Dinner, and the furor over Saturday Night Live's latest slavery joke. The fourth topic will be your choice, via vote over at The Independents Facebook page: Either Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) calling for a palcohol ban, or former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice withdrawing her name from a Rutgers commencement address.

Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) will be on to talk about his proposal for disarming federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management. The co-hosts will weigh in on a proposal by the City of Carson (Calif.) to outlaw bullying. There will be some reliable jackassery about Cinco de Mayo, you can be sure. And the after-show can be found at foxbusiness.com/independents beginning at 10 p.m. sharp.

Tonight on The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) will make his third appearance on the program, this time to talk about the important issue of...milk freedom! Specifically, the "Milk Freedom Act of 2014" and the "Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014," bills co-sponsored by Massie and a bipartisan group of 18 other lawmakers that would:
provide relief to local farmers, small producers, and others who have been harassed, fined, and in some cases even prosecuted for the "crime" of distributing unpasteurized milk...[and] would prohibit the federal government from interfering with the interstate traffic of raw milk products. [...]

[and] prevent the federal government from interfering with trade of unpasteurized, natural milk or milk products between states where distribution or sale of such products is already legal.

You read about these bills first here at Reason.com, of course.

The eclectic Party Panel tonight is composed of Russell Simmons's Political Director Michael Skolnik and former Michigan congressman Thaddeus McCotter, who will talk about: A) the return of Monica Lewinsky. B) the hold threat by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) on the nomination of proposed 1st Circuit Court judge David Barron, due to Barron's reported authorship of a memo providing legal support to the administration's extra-judicial assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki. C) President Barack Obama's big new report linking climate change to weather patterns. And D) Rick Santorum's comments yesterday that Republicans ain't no libertarians.

The co-hosts will discuss the awful mass kidnapping of girls in Nigeria, and also the far more humorous case of MSNBC host Krystal Ball doubling down on her recent insistence that George Orwell's Animal Farm is a parable:
where a bunch of pigs hog up all the economic resources, tell the animals they need the food because they're the makers and then scare up a prospect of a

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT) starts with a discussion of the Environmental Protection Agency's oversight of, um, its own employees, including that dude who surfed porn all day, and that other one who drew a paycheck for two-plus years while not working and pretending he was off gallivanting with the CIA. Joining to discuss are Jehmu Greene and TV's Andy Levy, who will also weigh in on the advisability of news organizations being allowed to fly surveillance drones.

Then Michael Weiss of The Interpreter reports on the latest from Ukraine, the co-hosts discuss the relative merits of spanking and banning spanking; then hip-hop DJ Charlamagne tha God comes on to preview our special Friday show, "If I Ruled the World....," by explaining what he'd do in power and how his professional name is linked with dealing crack. Andy Levy and Charlamagne then discuss Michael Jordan's alleged teenage racism, and before you know it the co-hosts are back talking about teen pregnancy and abortion rates, and we're outta here!

Your Friday theme episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later in each time zone) is on the intriguing theme of "If I Ruled the World." Meaning, not necessarily me (though we do get into some of my King Rudolf II/George Washington fantasies), but rather the creative imaginations of some of our more, ah, ambitious friends: Geraldo Rivera, Anthony Weiner, Tucker Carlson, Gavin McInnes, Monica Crowley, and Bobby Bones.

Feels like it's been so long! Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) will be notable in part due to the week-long absence of dearly beloved co-host Kmele Foster, who will be replaced tonight by comedian Sherrod Small. To take maximal advantage of the talent in the room, we'll be discussing sister-of-Beyonce Solange's vicious elevator attack on Jay-Z, and what that means for late-capitalist America.

Party Panel tonight will consist of New York Times science writer-slash-friend o' Reason John Tierney and Fox News Correspondent Lea Gabrielle, who will discuss Stress Tester Timothy Geithner's reported instructions by the White House to pretend that Social Security will never contribute to the deficit, and also Obamacare's wasted $474 million on just four failed state exchanges. Then you get to decide what they talk about later in the show: Noted man-kisser Michael Sam finally getting drafted into the National Football League, or Lebron James's ideas about who should own the L.A. Clippers. Go to the show's Facebook page, and dowhatchalike!

Ruh-roh. |||The Pacific Legal Foundation's Timothy Sandefur will be on to dissect the crazy story (blogged here minutes ago by J.D. Tuccille) about the Massachusetts woman who was recently charged with wiretapping for recording her own arrest. Radio host and military veteran Bryan Suits talks about the latest nightmare-activity in the world, from Nigeria to Iran. And the broadcast will end with discussion about a recent CBS News poll showing that a strong majority of Americans think that families are getting weaker.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) features a two-part interview with investigative civil libertarian Glenn Greenwald, author of the new book No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State. Greenwald will talk about what it was like to receive and then report out the biggest leak of the 21st century; list which politicians he fears, and what he thinks about the USA Freedom Act.

Party Panelists tonight are criminal defense attorney-slash-TV commentator Remi Spencer and Forbes contributor Carrie Sheffield, who will talk about the Obamacare Quote of the Day from health insurer Marcus Merz (as flagged today by Peter Suderman): "We have to break people away from the choice habit that everyone has." The duo is also slated to discuss the awful family squabbling over Casey Kasem's withering body, a new ranking of global alcohol consumption, and Clay Aiken's narrow electoral victory over a candidate who just died.

Rachel Boynton, director of the acclaimed new documentary Nigerian oil-industry documentary Big Men, will talk about the latest twists in the Nigerian abductions story. And replacing Kmele Foster tonight will be filmmaker/TakiMag person Gavin McInnes, who will help Kennedy in discussing springtime street fashion in Manhattan.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) starts off with what is sure to be a robust exchange of views with once and future GOP presidential hopeful (and inveterate libertarian-basher) Rick Santorum, who will be discussing his new book Blue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America That Works. For a partial list of Santorum's previous affronts to libertarianism, click here.

Party Panelists tonight are comedian/singer Tom Shillue and Token Lefty Rick Ungar, who will talk about senatorial candidate Ben Sasse's GOP primary win in Nebraska, why feeding homeless people is a crime, and the $1.2 billion Obamacare contractor that pays its employees to do nothing much at all.

Beloved ex-congressman Ron Paul will come on to talk about the effects that state-legal pot is having on Mexican drug cartels; author/energy analyst Robert Bryce talks about his new book Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper: How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong; and guest co-host Jedediah Bila will help tackle the question of what you would do if you found out your significant other's father was a serial killer.

From Detroit to Harrisburg, Pa., Chicago to San Berdoo, America's cities are teetering on the verge of dysfunction and even bankruptcy, as municipalities and counties sag under the weight of bloated public-sector pension obligations and economically reckless governance. Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) visits all these cities and more, to confront the horror stories and point the way forward toward a better tomorrow.

The show starts in Detroit, appropriately, with a tour by Kennedy and a discussion with local boy and former Michigan congressman Thaddeus McCotter. Then we show some of Jim Epstein's gobsmacking Reason TV reporting from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Next, John Tillman, president and CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, will explain why he thinks Chicago might be the next Detroit (hint: rhymes with "tensions"). Then Kennedy visits the California basket cases of Vernon and San Bernardino, and solicits Reason.com columnist Steven Greenhut for analysis. Fox Business Network Washington Correspondent Rich Edson turns the corner into more positive territory by talking about a new study that highlights the best big cities in which to start a business, which transitions into an interview with Mayor Rusty Paul of Sandy Springs, Ga., "The City That Outsourced Everything."

Joining Kennedy and Matt Welch in the guest-hosting chair for the full hour is none other than beloved Reason Senior Editor Peter Suderman, who is tasked with telling America what we've all learned by the end of the show. It's a packed episode of reportage and analysis, doom and glimmers of hope, and you should watch it on your television set.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) begins with Party Panelists Katie Pavlich (co-host, Outnumbered) and Basil Smikle (Democratic political strategist) chewing on possible weaknesses of two major-party presidential candidates for 2016: Hillary Clinton's age/health, and Chris Christie's hawkishness. Later in the show the panel will be back to talk about the fake 9/11 gift shop controversy.

Beloved former Reasoner Julian Sanchez, now of Cato, will then come on to talk about some of the latest National Security Agency fooferaw: The physical hacking into Cisco Systems, the listening in on "every phone call in the Bahamas." There follows a discussion about New York Mayor Bill De Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, recalling about her daughter when she was an infant, "the truth is, I could not spend every day with her."

Then frequent guest Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) comes on to talk about the feds getting between his constituents and legal hemp. And I'll deliver a quick rant about people giving superly-duperly prosperous Switzerland a hard time for note adopting a $25 per hour minimum wage.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) is so jam-packed with material that we had to sacrifice Topical Storm, and there isn't even enough room in the headline to mention that one of our guests will be Aliea Bidwell, a young Alabama mother who claims that a pediatrician at the hospital threatened to have her newborn taken into state custody unless the parents consented to give the child a Hepatitis B vaccine.

Also, for the second (and possibly last!) time, tonight's after-show, which can be found at foxbusiness.com/independents beginning at 10 p.m. sharp, will feature LIVE PHONE CALLS FROM ALLEGED HUMAN BEINGS, or at least those who call the super-secret telephone number (cough 877-249-9626 cough). Please do the world a solid and DON'T ACTUALLY CALL THAT NUMBER UNTIL JUST BEFORE 10 P.M. Kthnxbi.

Party panelists tonight are Hot Air/Townhall media personality Mary Katharine Ham and Demos Senior Fellow Rich Benjamin, who will talk about most of the following stories: 1) The National Security Agency recording every damned phone call in the Bahamas; 2) a 19-year-old Texas kid facing LIFE IN PRISON for making and selling pot brownies; 3) the CIA vowing to really never again pose as vaccinating doctors when collecting blood data on people they hope to assassinate; and 4) the Chipotle/Bloomberg/gun kerfuffle.

We're just getting started. Beloved Harvard economist and occasional Reason contributor Jeffrey A. Miron will be on to defend his outlandish ongoing contention that maybe the ARRA Stimulus wasn't the best of public policies. Beloved eponymous Fox Business Network host and Reason.com columnist John Stossel will be on to promote his upcoming Thursday show on the "Good New Days." National Review Online contributor Deroy Murdock will talk about the V.A. hospitals scandal, and the co-hosts will discuss about some under-appreciated aspects of the Beverly Hills Hotel boycott.

On tonight's episode of the program (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three and five hours later) you're in for a treat: The best of six-plus months of The Independents. If you've never watched the show, here's an excellent opportunity to see what you've been missing. There'll be....

Faves: Segments with Penn Jillette, Glenn Greenwald, Michael C. Moynihan, Gavin McInnes and others....

Fights: Rick Santorum, John Bolton, Anthony Weiner, Ryan Anderson, Emily Miller, et al.

Celebs: Kristin Cavallari, Charlamagne tha God, etc.

Games: Try to guess which of our many fun contests will be represented here!

Two Minutes Hate: Featuring you, the beloved Hit & Run commentariat.

And so much more!

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) will lead with some debate on a subject that makes my heart sink: sick-bastard Elliot Rodger's murder of six people in Isla Vista, California, the congenial beachside slum I called home for three years a long time ago. Joining to discuss the gun-control aspects of the story is none other than beloved Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum, whose column tomorrow on the subject is a must-read for those who prefer concrete discussion about gun policy over belligerent assertions about the National Rifle Association's culpability. Also on hand to work through this latest mass killing are conservative commentator Kayleigh McEnany and former GOP presidential hope-beyond-hopeful Thaddeus McCotter.

McCotter is then back for a solo spot talking about two strands of news from Afghanistan: President Barack Obama's announcement that the 13+-year Afghan war is coming to a close despite the continuing presence of U.S. troops, and the White House's outing of a CIA station chief there. Later in the show McEnany is back with comedian Dan St. Germain to talk about Glenn Greenwald's latest bombshell threat and Chuck Schumer's recent brainfarts about jacking up the War on Heroin and cracking down on booze-slushies. Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Robert McNamara will talk about the outrageous case of Atlantic City seeking to seize a private home in order to maybe someday benefit a local casino. And our own Kmele Foster will share his thoughts on that extraordinarily long Atlantic cover story, "The Case for Reparations."

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) will feature a Party Panel of Washington Free Beacon staff writer Lachlan Markay and Newsday columnist Ellis Henican, who will argue about most of the following topics:

• President Barack Obama's big foreign policy commencement address today at West Point, during which he slayed more strawmen than a pyromaniac, implied that the "drone strikes like those we've carried out in Yemen and Somalia" only come "when we face a continuing, imminent threat, and only where there is no certainty—there is near certainty of no civilian casualties," and gave ammunition to just about everybody who does not appreciate his foreign policy.

• Edward Snowden's revelatory NBC interview, and reactions thereof.

• Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's idea to require videotaping of gun sales.

• Adam Sandler's allegedly racially offensive new movie.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), no stranger to either The Independents or Reason, then comes on again to discuss The Email Privacy Act, which he has co-sponsored with Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-Kans.) and Tom Graves (R-Ga.), which would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before scrounging through the six-month-old emails of private citizens. Darin Selnick of Concerned Veterans for America will be on to talk about the damning report released today by the V.A. Inspector General. The co-hosts will have plenty to say about New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's attempt to repeal the city's notorious ferret ban. And did you hear the one about White House officials seeking extra redactions in that drone memo Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) helped pry out of their reluctant hands? Of course you didn't: because David Barron is already safely confirmed, thanks to the Senate votes of alleged civil libertarians who were bought off with the promise of full disclosure.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) is special in at least the following four ways:

1) Is in front of a live studio audience, composed of young rapscalions.

2) Includes a commencement address, and possibly some unfortunate dancing, from Kennedy.

3) Is chock full of practical advice for everyone, not just college grads. Like, how to get drunk at a bar on only one beer, and what to do with those naked photos of you on Facebook.

4) Provides the important linkage between interning and dealing weed.

Guests from the school of hard knocks include comedian Sherrod Small, Gavin "Everything I Learned in College Was a Lie" McInnes, BrandYourself.com co-founder Patrick Ambron, Fox Business anchor Gerri Willis (who will give tips for dealing with student-loan and other types of debt), Fox Biz personal finance reporter Kate Rogers (who will talk about the industries and skill-sets of the future), and hip-hop DJ Charlamagne tha God. It's certainly not your average television program.

Two weeks ago on this blog, Senior Editor Brian Doherty wrote about a case in Texas that sounds like one of the weirdest and most infuriating abuses of justice you'll see:
"In a federal/local raid earlier this month on a "smoke shop" called the Purple Zone in Alpine, Texas, two sisters running the place were arrested: Ilana and Arielle Lipsen.

Arielle insists she was hit in the head with a rifle by a DEA agent in what she characterized as an unprovoked assault. [...]

Pictures of Lipsen's head with the alleged gun butt wound were taken and spread on Facebook by Tom Cochran, who runs a screen printing shop whose services the Lipsen sisters used. [...]

The document that Ilana Lipsen had to sign to make bond, which I have seen, included this handwritten demand [...]:

"will advice media (Kwest9 news) that he [sic] sister, arielle lipsen, was not beaten by agents carrying/using a M16 rifle, and her sister instigated/assaulted agents."

A NewsWest9 report says Lipsen did, as ordered, recant her original story.

The pictures have now led Cochran to suffer a public call for boycott of his business, Big Bend Screen Printing, from the National Border Patrol Council, an AFL-CIO affiliate union for Border Patrol workers. (Local station NewsWest9 has more on that.)"

So on tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) we'll have Tom Cochran on to talk about this crazy series of events.

Party Panel this evening consists of New York Times science writer-slash-friend of Reason John Tierney and former Reagan-administration deputy defense secretary K.T. McFarland, who will talk about the two big pieces of news today: the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rules mandating carbon reductions, and the confusing and contested prisoner swap of five allegedly Taliban-affiliated Guantanamo Bay prisoners for the controversial Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Later in the show the Panel will also discuss

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) features the debut appearance on the show of beloved former Reason staffer Radley Balko, who will talk about an issue that's been burning up this here blog all week: the horrendous drug-cop assault on 19-month-old Bounkham Phonesavanh, who may not survive this latest flash-grenade bust in the War on Drugs.

The Party Panel tonight consists of Fox News correspondent (and former Navy pilot) Lea Gabrielle and comedian/singer Tom Shillue, who will lead the show by talking about the increasingly bizarre story of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release from five years of Taliban captivity, then later touch on Attorney General Eric Holder's new push to crack down on domestic terrorists, plus Seattle's new $15 minimum wage.

Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney will come on to talk about the crony-capitalism implications of the administration's new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on carbon. Brian Wise from the United States Consumer Coalition will discuss the allegedly politicized law enforcement behind Operation Choke Point. And the co-hosts will ponder the legality of President Obama's prisoner-swap.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later) dives back into the bounty of issues raised by the reacquisition of long-detained Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The Party Panel, featuring Buck Sexton (currently national-security at The Blaze, previously with the CIA) and Charles W. Cooke (National Review) will argue with the co-hosts about the pros and cons of bypassing Congress, shuttering Gitmo, and keeping any U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. (Later, the duo will also address the Pope's weird jihad against "libertarianists.")

Next, the great Yahoo News political reporter Chris Moody will break down yesterday's various (and interesting!) primary elections. Eponymous Fox Business Network host and Reason.com columnist John Stossel will point the 'Stache of Justice toward Common Core and the right to unpaid internships. The co-hosts will take their bites out of Maureen Dowd's bummer of an edibles column, and I'll wax poeticalish about the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Is there a "War on Men"? Lots of people seem to think so, and a few of them will be on tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later). They include:

• Christina Hoff Summers, author of the The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men.

• Gavin McInnes, blunt-spoken miscreant, and author of "Let's Not Let Boys Be Boys."

Pushing back on the thesis will be Jill Filipovic of Feministe, and your ever-skeptical co-hosts. McInnes and Red Eye regular Joanne Nosuchinsky will also play a riveting game of "Name That Sexist."

Aside from earnings disparities, divorce settlements, zero-tolerance policies, and custody cases, "The War on Men" will also hit on a couple of other important public policy issues:

• Sexual assault on campus, both the incidence and investigation thereof. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education President Greg Lukianoff will talk about the latest developments.

• Injustice in paternity establishment and related child-support issues. Paternity fraud activist Carnell Smith joins.

It's a fun and informative show, and you should watch it on your television set. Also, it repeats at 2 a.m. ET, and again Saturday at 11 p.m. ET.

Did the cop-killing rampage of Jerad and Amanda Miller spring from everyday right-wing rhetoric? Was it just the latest example of the "Constant cop-killing, by people who echo the NRA talking points and the conspiracy theories of the Internet wackos"? Did it show how "Fox news has finally yelled fire in a crowded theater"? Or is the political interpretation a bit more complicated than all that?

On tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later), we'll start off with some debate on that topic with Party Panelists Mark Hannah (former Kerry/Obama aide) and Deneen Borelli, author of Blacklash: How Obama and the Left Are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation. Those two are also slated to discuss Hillary Clinton's heartbreaking poverty, the GOP's $60 million initiative to reach black voters, plus AirBnB's move into the dinner-party market.

Daily Beast national security reporter Eli Lake (read him in Reason here) will come on to discuss the latest news about Bowe Bergdahl. Known crazy person Michael Malice (read him in Reason here) will talk about the latest U.S. hostage situation: Ohio lawyer Jeffrey Fowle, detained for the crime of having a Bible in his hotel. And Dan Caldwell, issue and legislative campaign manager of Concerned Veterans for America, will talk about the latest V.A. audit.

What the hell, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) just got primaried? On tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later), the great Yahoo News political reporter Chris Moody will come on to make sense out of what few people were predicting until, like, an hour ago. Was it all about "amnesty"? Was it also about crony capitalism, Fannie & Freddie, and TARP? We shall discuss.

The news in places where U.S. soldiers long fought has been terrible today, so radio host and military veteran Bryan Suits will be on to discuss. Cato Executive Vice President David Boaz will analyze Attorney General Eric Holder's recent moves in the direction of sentencing reform for non-violent drug offenders. Bill Gertz is reporting that federal prosecutors are in secret talks with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden over a possible plea deal, so we'll talk about that with Party Panelists Ellis Henican (Newsday columnist) and comedian Jimmy Failla.

We'll talk to North Carolina LP Senate nominee Sean Haugh, one of many Libertarians making a surprisingly strong showing in the South this year. And I may talk about the landmark (and sure-to-be-contested) tenure-shredding court decision in California today.

Do you love and/or hate to see me sitting in Kennedy's hosting chair? Either way, you'll be motivated to watch tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later). Filling in for the big-earrings gal will be Hot Air/Townhall media personality Mary Katharine Ham, who will end the show with a prom-banning story YOU WON'T BELIEVE. Still, the real hooks lie elsewhere.

As befits tradition, Red Meat Wednesday is back with a KABOOM! (Don't ask how red meat explodes, just work with me.) Kicking off the show is the right honorable libertarian gentleman Ron Paul, who will likely talk about how much he misses Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va., though not for long), and also what we've learned from today's Bowe Bergdahl congressional hearings with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Batting second is Yahoo News political reporter Chris Moody, who will hopefully unravel the mystery of who is David Brat, and why exactly did he win. Cleanup is Ron Paul 2.0 Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who knows a thing or two about running primary elections against the Chamber of Commerce. And rounding out the Cantor-Commentary is FreedomWorks President/CEO Matt Kibbe, who will exclusively reveal whether he had to Google how to pronounce Brat's name correctly last night.

Party Panel tonight is Red Eye co-host Andy Levy and NASCAR-loving Fox News correspondent Dagen McDowell, who will talk about Hillary Clinton's latest Benghazi comments, the NSA's we’re-too-big-to-comply-with-court-orders defense, plus what long lines of immigrant children near the border tell us about American politics in 2014.

What are the nine worst scandals of President Barack Obama’s 66-month tenure? We’ll be counting them down on The Independents tonight at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) on Fox Business Network, using our proprietary measurement, the CBI Index (two of the letters standing for “Constitutionality” and “Impact”). It’s probably appropriate to pre-game the show by guessing in the comments which scandals will be included, and in what order (9 is least terrible, 1 is the worst).

Need a hint? Here are the guests who will be coming on the program: beloved Reason Senior Editor Peter Suderman, Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst and Reason.com columnist Andrew Napolitano (who helped us pick #1!), National Review Online contributor Deroy Murdock, former Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, and Senior Editor of The Federalist Mollie Hemingway. Obviously, we’ll have a “Name That Scandal” game at the midway point of the program....

As the world continues to burn, tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT) deploys an all-star Party Panel to explicate the fire: Reason Contributing Editor Michael C. Moynihan and filmmaker/TakiMag columnist Gavin McInnes. The Brooklyn duo will talk about the latest awful news from Iraq, including President Barack Obama's announcement this afternoon that he will be sending 275 new combat troops into the wrecked country to help defend the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. Speaking of endless tours of duty, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will help answer the question of just who got this war so horribly, horribly wrong.

Moynihan/McInnes will also discuss those suspiciously missing Lois Lerner IRS emails, plus why Americans (say they) hate atheists, and whether the new study did indeed prove that being cool in high school is bad for you.

Have you heard of Lucas Overby? He's the 27-year-old Libertarian Party candidate for Florida's District 13 congressional seat who is currently pulling a whopping 31 percent (and climbing) at the polls in his race to defeat incumbent Republican David Jolly.

Have you heard about the Internet apparition known as Slender Man, who is probably trying to make your teens murder people on the social media and whatnot? Fox News psychiatrist Keith Ablow will explain why he wants the Surgeon General to put a warning up on Facebook about the whole thing.

It only took a few hours after the administration announced the commando-capture of suspected Benghazi mastermind Ahmed Abu Khattala for Media Matters for America, citing this New York Times article, to declare that "Captured Alleged Benghazi Ringleader Was Reportedly Responding To The Anti-Islam Video," a headline that was then greeted with cheers of Susan Rice vindicated! from the progressive Twittersphere. But was she? On tonight's episode of of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT), Daily Beast national security reporter Eli Lake, who has done some of the best reporting there is on the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attacks, will be on to break down the mechanics and meaning of this most unusual case. Lake will also discuss some of the latest violent chaos and diplomatic machinations in Iraq.

Hillary Clinton is making television interviews, have you heard about that? Tonight the 2016 presidential front-runner blinked hard at Greta van Susteren's tough questioning about surveillance and the 4th Amendment, added new plots to her Benghazi timeline, and said, re: gun rights, that "we cannot let a minority of people...hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people." On to react are Party Panelists Jedediah Bila (Fox News contributor) and David Angelo (comedian), who will also weigh in on Tony Gwynn-inspired calls to more strictly regulate or even ban smokeless tobacco, and also this recent comment from First Lady Michelle Obama:
"Before coming to the White House, I struggled, as a working parent with a traveling, busy husband, to figure out how to feed my kids healthy, and I didn't get it right," she explained [...].

"I thought to myself, if a Princeton and Harvard-educated professional woman doesn't know how to adequately feed her kids, then what are other parents going through who don't have access to the information I have?" she recalled.

Her personal struggle helped her launch her mission to address childhood obesity, she explain

Whose vitriol will be read by Fox Human Resources Director Bernie Maxsmith on tonight's episode of of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT)? Well, that's the point: You have to tune in to find out.

Party Panel tonight is Wall Street lawyer-turned comedian Paul Mecurio, and Breitbart.com columnist Lisa De Pasquale, who will talk about President Barack Obama's sinking poll numbers, Dick Cheney's stinking op-ed, the Patent Office's trademark ruling against the Redskins, and the growing popularity of the World Cup. Fox News mustache-legend Geraldo Rivera will give his idiosyncratic take on Iraq, Jason Riley will talk about his new book Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed, and Nina Teicholz will talk about her new book, The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.

Tonight's theme episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three and five hours later) is dedicated to the always-contentious issue of immigration, legal and illegal.

Kicking off the show is a debate on the economics of immigration, between Dan Stein, president of the Federation of American Immigration Reform, and Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA. Then Kennedy goes to the border to inspect the fence between Mexico and the United States. Erika Andiola, an immigration activist who was brought to the U.S. illegally and remains undocumented, then talks about her family's experiences and the Obama administration's inconsistent record on deportation.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio last year was named one of Reason's 45 Enemies of Freedom in part for his hysterical ongoing crackdowns against suspected illegal immigrants. He'll be on the show to talk about the ongoing crisis of illegal children being dumped in camps near the border, and how his approach toward law enforcement compares to that of law enforcement in states like Texas. Eric Liu, founding CEO of Citizens University and author of A Chinaman's Chance: One Family's Journey and the Chinese American Dream, comes on to talk about the Chinese- and Asian-American immigration experience (did you know, for example, that Asians now outnumber Hispanics in annual immigration to the U.S.?). Longtime reform backer Grover Norquist will give the current lay of the legislative land on comprehensive immigration reform. And Kmele Foster will detail his philosophical framework for approaching the immigration question.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) will be filled with familiar Reason characters. Besides yours truly, there will be Managing Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward, who will be one half of the Party Panel (along with former GOP congressman Thaddeus McCotter), and will talk about the administration's heavily redacted legal justification for assassinating U.S. citizens, the Republican foreign-policy split between Dick Cheney and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), the laughable notion by Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) that when it comes to financial backers, the Democratic Party "doesn't have billionaires"; plus the lurid claims made in the new Clinton-Obama page-turner Blood Feud.

Are you watching the House hearings with Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinenon the missing IRS emails? Well, Reason Senior Editor Peter Suderman probably is, and since he broke the relevant story about the IRS having a contract with an email backup company, he shall certainly add value. Remember the federal government's controversial Operation Choke Point that allegedly targets politically disfavorable businesses for prosecutorial sanction? Brian Wise from the United States Consumer Coalition will be on to discuss the latest developments, which involve cease-and-desist letters. And remember how international borders are crumbling to meaninglessness in the Middle East and in Russia's Near Abroad? Michael Weiss of The Interpreter will add his two cents.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) begins on a happy note: The U.S. District Court in Oregon has declared that the process for people to appeal their improper inclusion on the federal no-fly list is unconstitutional. On hand to react are Party Panelists Julie Roginsky of Fox News, and conservative commentator Kayleigh McEnany, who will also discuss a plan by House Democrats to provide free legal counsel to the abandoned immigrant children piling up on the southern border, and Dick Cheney's prediction in a radio interview today that the United States will be hit by a worse-than-9/11 terrorist attack within the next decade.

Dan Caldwell, the issue and legislative campaign manager of Concerned Veterans for America, will break down the latest grim V.A. report; Amity Shlaes will discuss the new graphic novelization of her 2007 F.D.R. bio The Forgotten Man (hopefully providing some Obama-administration comparisons); and the co-hosts will discuss actor Gary Oldman's politics-outing Playboy interview and also the new proposal from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) to re-enfranchise some ex-felons.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) gets straight into some Supreme Court news from today: The robust victory for cellphone privacy in Riley v. California, and the big victory for Big Media in American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo. Navigating both decisions is Cato Supreme Court Review Editor in Chief Ilya Shaprio.

Beloved former Reason staffer Radley Balko will break down the ACLU’s big new report, "War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing." Daily Beast national security reporter Eli Lake will talk about the latest horrors from ISIS. Fox Business analyst Elizabeth MacDonald will dive into those ghastly new GDP numbers. Party Panelists Jill Filipovic and Sonnie Johnson will argue about the Clinton family's finances (and depictions thereof), and the co-hosts will bat around the latest IRS illegality.

Do you know how certain people on the Internet are fond of formulations like "Everything you need to know about ____________"? It is of course an asinine statement, since it is impossible for any single human to judge any other human's precise need for knowledge, let alone presume to have amassed the precise quality and mix of the stuff. Nitpicky throat-clearing aside, if you have an interest in and worry about the tumult in the Middle East and North Africa, and you don't consider yourself an expert, then chances are very good that you will find something useful in tonight's theme episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three and five hours later).

"Friends, Enemies and Chaos" begins with a series of backgrounders from Wall Street Journal multimedia explainer Jason Bellini, Fox News Middle Eastern specialist Lisa Daftari, and Michael Weiss of The Interpreter. Who are the teams? From where did those ISIS scaries emerge and what do they want? What is the nature and import of the Sunni/Shia schism? You'll likely know more going out than you did going in.

As for what, if anything, the United States should do about the chaos, both short term and long term, we tease out some scenarios with The Blaze national security chief (and former CIA employee) Buck Sexton, KABC radio host (and multiple-theater combat veteran) Bryan Suits, former Reagan-administration deputy defense secretary K.T. McFarland, and Heritage Foundation Director of National Security Policy Steven Bucci. And because this is The Independents, there will be a mid-show game you can compete along with at home, plus a dash of at least some long-term optimism, in a discussion about whatever the hell happened to the Arab Spring.

Tonight- @TimothySandefur @ktmcfarland @JohnTierneyNYC, and Deroy Murdock #INDfbn

Tonight! @mcmoynihan @michaeldweiss @ij 's Paul Sherman @guypbenson @rickungar

Tonight-- @RonPaul @Richardafowler @jimmyfailla @glukianoff and @Sherrod_Small sits in for @mleewelch

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later), starts with party panelists Thaddeus McCotter (guitar-playing former GOP congressman) and Gavin McInnes (Canadian-derived multimedia controversialist) talking about whether American Exceptionalism is as dead as Captain America says it is. The McDuo will also weigh in on concerns over some of the illegal immigrant kids near the Mexican border testing positive for swine flu, and also whether interventionist Republicans like Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) would prefer to see Hillary Clinton instead of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) in the White House.

Cato's Julian Sanchez will discuss the latest Edward Snowden/NSA revelations about snooping surreptitiously through the love letters and private communications of tens of thousands of U.S. citizens; publishing icon and former presidential perennial Steve Forbes will talk trash about the Federal Reserve, the co-hosts will assess what lessons for free speech can be gleaned from Opie and Anthony Show co-host Anthony Cumia getting bounced from SiriusXM after Tweeting nasty things about a woman he claims assaulted him near Times Square, and I'll be tying together two Reason blog posts: Ed Krayewski on video of a California Highway Patrolman repeatedly punching a prone woman in the head, and Ronald Bailey's happier tale of cops and cameras in Rialto, California.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) begins with the story that for weeks has swallowed The Drudge Report whole: All those illegal immigrant kids massed up in holding facilities near the U.S.-Mexico border. Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, will break down the mechanics of who is coming and going and why; and the subject will be debated by Party Panelists Katie Pavlich (co-host, Outnumbered) and Emily Tisch Sussman (campaign director, Center for American Progress Action Fund). That duo is also slated to discuss the themes in Pavlich's new book, Assault and Flattery: The Truth About the Left and Their War on Women, and also Hillary Clinton's latest comments about political dynasties, and the city of Berkeley requiring medical marijuana dispensaries to give away two percent of their product to the poor.

Fox News Middle Eastern specialist Lisa Daftari will discuss the latest awfulness in Israel and Gaza, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow (and former Labor Department chief economist) Diana Furchtgott-Roth will break down the connection between welfare payments and employment rates, and yours truly will talk about today's bracing letter to the Obama administration by 38 journalism/open-government groups denouncing his record on transparency.

Wasn't is just Monday when we were talking about the latest NSA/Snowden blockbuster set of revelations on The Independents?

Well, the whistleblower's archive keeps yielding damning new data; this time around in Glenn Greenwald's latest scoop about the spy agency targeting the private communications of more than 200 Americans, including seemingly patriotic Republican politicos from the Bush administration. On to discuss the revelations on tonight's show is Glenn Greenwald himself*, and also Party Panelists Julie Borowski (beloved Internet libertarian) and Jedediah Bila (Fox News contributor). The duo is also slated to discuss the Democrats' proposed post-Hobby Lobby contraceptive mandate, another proposed national ban on spanking, and the legal/moral responsibility of telling your tenant that her house and furniture were used by a serial killer.

KABC radio host (and multiple-theater combat veteran) Bryan Suits will analyze the latest Mideast bloodshed; Fox Business Network reporter Jo Ling Kent will discuss China's professed belief that it can defeat the U.S. military in battle, Kmele Foster will detail (and provide personal testimony about) crosswalk entrapment

Tonight- @petersuderman guest co-hosts, @andylevy @kmanguward @ben_lindbergh @WeldPond #RevengeOfTheNerds #INDfbn

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) begins with a topic that's gotten some play here today at Hit & Run: The latest Republican attack on the alleged "isolationism" of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). Joining to discuss will be Party Panelists Michael Malice (insane person, Reason contributor) and Guy Benson (Townhall political editor). Those two are also slated to debate Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's return to active duty, the mom who was jailed for letting her 9-year-old play unsupervised in the park, and the man who declared a wretched part of North Africa his own kingdom so he could appoint his daughter a princess.

Breitbart.com Senior Editor at Large Ben Shapiro will come on to talk about his "8 Reasons to Close the Border Now" piece; New York City Councilman Andy King will defend his proposal to require background checks on those creepy Times Square cartoon characters, Kmele Foster will (of course!) defend the Bolivian government's new law legalizing employment for 10-year-olds, and the co-hosts will chew on that great Reason-Rupe Millennials poll that we haven't talked about enough here on the blog.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) leads off with a conversation about the Congressional Budget Office's latest long-term debt nightmare projection, featuring Party Panelists Jimmy Failla (comedian) and Brian Morgenstern (uh, also a comedian, but a Republican guy, too!). The funnymen will also have words to say about the negative immigration poll numbers for both President Barack Obama and the Republican Party, the Comcast customer service rep from hell, and a NASA official's claim that humans will find aliens within 20 years.

Michael Weiss of The Interpreter will discuss the latest Israel/Hamas rockets and ceasefire proposals, U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Justin Rubinstein will tell us where we stand on the fracking/earthquakes hypothesis, the Pacific Legal Foundation's Timothy Sandefur will discuss the meaning of California recognizing Bitcoin and the plausibility of the Golden State being split into six pieces, and I will touch on the Federal Election Commission's Lois Lerner problem.

What the hell, the news is so bad this week we might as well jump head-first into death. Tonight's theme episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three and five hours later) attempts to find the silver lining in the business of dying, or at least to imagine a future in which life-and-death (and post-death) decisions are no longer mangled by the state.

The show begins with Kenyon College Economics Professor David Harrington and Golden Gate Funeral Home Director and Ask the Undertaker star John Beckwith, who will discuss coffin regulations, tissue harvesting, the rise of cremation, and other hot funeral trends. Anti-aging visionary Aubrey De Grey then brings his beard and his wit to explain the whys and why-so-scareds of his death-defying research. Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee talks about the lived experience with dignified-death laws (like in Oregon), and why that isn't "assisted suicide." Then it's obviously time for a game of “Famous Last Words,” featuring as contestants serial ghostwriter (and Reason contributor) Michael Malice and Fox Business Making Money host Charles Payne.

So what happens when you die? We'll let viewers ask blue-eyed priest Father Jonathan Morris whether heaven really is a place where nothing ever happens. Then Malice comes back to talk about the emerging trend of super-duper fun funerals, and the show ends with the co-hosts imagining their own ideal exits from this mortal coil.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) features yours truly in the hosting chair (Mary Katharine Ham will fill in for Kennedy), so this blog post will be bullet-pointy.

• Michael Weiss of The Interpreter will talk all things MH-17.

• Patrick Byrne of Overstock.com will trash the Federal Reserve.

• Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will assess U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Israel-Hamas fight.

• The co-hosts will talk about the role that cigarette taxation had in the police choking-death of Eric Garner.

• Party Panelists Jimmy Failla (comedian) and Noelle Nikpour (columnist/GOP strategist) will talk about the immigration crisis, lefty humor, and nanny state shopping carts.

Sorry no time for further explication, other than that I'll [Matt Welch] be in the hosting chair for tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, repeats three hours later), and we'll talk about Flight 17, Israel-Hamas, the Obamacare case, Arkansas vs. dentists, and classic music pot-smoking events. Check it out!

Keeping with tradition, tonight’s episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) features some hardcore libertarian action, including:

• Ron Paul (check out his new Voice of Liberty project here), who will expand on his controversial assertion that "Without US-sponsored ‘regime change,’ it is unlikely that....the Malaysian Airlines crash [would] have happened." Paul will also weigh in on the situation in Gaza.

• Peter Suderman, who will heroically fill in for an ill Kmele Foster, and take lead wonk role in discussions about the future impact of yesterday's Obamacare rulings, the latest tech problems with Lois Lerner's hard drives, and a new report on easy-does-it Obamacare fraud.

• Maggie McNeill (see her Reason TV interview here), who will comment on the World Health Organization's recent report claiming that decriminalizing prostitution will improve health outcomes and slow the spread of HIV.

I will again be hosting the show. Outnumbered co-host Jedediah Bila will be subbing in for Kennedy. Party Panel is The Blaze national security chief (and former CIA employee) Buck Sexton and Red Eye co-host Joanne Nosuchinsky, who will talk about the Veterans Administration's call for $17.6 billion in additional fix-it money, Snoop Dogg's claim to have smoked weed at the White House, and a new study proving (duh!) that socialists are big fat cheaters.

Friday night episodes of The Independents are organized around a theme. Tonight's installment (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three and five hours later) is all about how the best of intentions have often paved the road to policy hell

Among the policies to be highlighted: Affordable housing initiatives and affirmative action (which will be discussed by National Review Online contributor Deroy Murdock), ethanol and Obamacare (broken down by our own Peter Suderman), prohibitions on various vices (declaimed by Reason contributor Thaddeus Russell), TARP and stimulus (defended by former congressman Anthony Weiner), the Iraq War (explained by former Army Major General Paul Eaton), and federal education policy (Cato's Andrew Coulson).

Mary Katharine Ham will once again fill in for Kennedy, and I (Matt Welch) will close out my week-long stint in the hosting chair.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) will feature a two-part interview with all-purpose entertainer, bullshit-detector, and super-libertarian Penn Jillette, who will give his reaction to The New York Times very belatedly jumping on the anti-pot-prohibition bandwagon, and also talk about his new show Penn & Teller: Fool Us!, which premiers this Wednesday on CW.

Cato Executive Vice President David Boaz will be in studio to talk about the latest "Third Way" proposals from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) to attract minority voters to the GOP (or at least to a certain GOP presidential candidate).

Michael Weiss of The Interpreter will be back on to talk about this very rough day (week? month?) of U.S.-Israeli relations. Party Panelists Katie Pavlich (co-host, Outnumbered) and Ellis Henican (Newsday columnist) will wrassle over juvenile immigrants, the new V.A. reform compromise reached on Capitol Hill, and the horse-race prospects for the 2014 and 2016 elections. And as always, what happens in the Topical Storm, stays in the Topical Storm...at least until showtime.

Tonight's live episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) grapples with a riveting new leak from Wikileaks of a heretofore secret order by the Australian government to suppress news coverage (and the gag order itself) having to do with the "a multi-million dollar corruption case explicitly naming the current and past heads of state of Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, their relatives and other senior officials." Kmele Foster will break down the story, previewing our special Friday episode called "Government Secrets."

Party Panel consists of serial ghostwriter (and Reason contributor) Michael Malice and and Forbes contributor Carrie Sheffield, who are scheduled to talk about: 1) The new U.S. (and E.U.) sanctions against Russia; 2) North Korea's alleged and professed attempts to live up to that whole Axis of Evil thing; 3) The Hill's repulsive "50 Most Beautiful" people in D.C. list; and 4) OKCupid's bad-dating experiments with its customers.

Fox News Middle Eastern specialist Lisa Daftari will talk about the latest news from the bloodshed in Gaza, including her recent reporting about Palestinians' dissatisfaction with Hamas. University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno will discuss whether dinosaurs were really victims of bad timing.

Tonight's episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three hours later) features the triumphant (if tardy!) return of Fox Human Resources Director Bernie Maxsmith, who will deliver your very best Two Minutes' Hate. It will also feature the Independents debut of basketball star-turned-commentator Jalen Rose, who will talk about his Detroit charter school the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, his recent OC Register essay "When a ZIP code determines a child's future," and his participation in a video called "Educational Choice Now."

Have you ever said to yourself, "Dang, imagine what it would look like if a bunch of well-informed libertarians got to go on cable news and spend an entire hour talking about the history, legality, and operational realities of government secrecy and the various conspiracy theories it generates"? Well then do I have a program for you.

Tonight's theme episode of The Independents (Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT, with re-airs three and five hours later) is all about "Government Secrets." It starts with the nation's foremost thinker about conspiracy theories (including those the mainstream deploys against the fringe), none other than our own beloved Jesse Walker, author of the already classic The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory. He'll join Red Eye co-host Andy Levy in walking through a variety of kooky (or seemingly kooky) public opinions on aliens, the JFK assassination, COINTELPRO, MK-Ultra, and 9/11, and how the government's behavior exacerbates and even encourages creative explanations of reality, in addition to healthy skepticism about leviathan's claims on privileged classification.

Occidental University historian and Reason contributor Thaddeus Russell will then come on to talk about historical skullduggery, from Operation Paperclip to the CIA-backed Iranian coup in 1953 to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. KABC radio host (and multiple-theater combat veteran) Bryan Suits will provide a serio-comical take on the government's bizzaro system for providing and enforcing security clearances. And for a break in the battle, Andy Levy will join Forbes columnist Rick Ungar in playing a whodunnit game of "Fact or Film?"

That's a pretty awesome show already, and then BOOM! Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst and Reason.com columnist Andrew Napolitano comes on to break down the (il)legality of the current government's vast surveillance-and-secrecy game. Not sold yet? How about Cato Institute scholar and former Reasoner Julian Sanchez detailing the