Just Asking Questions

Interrogating current events, challenging assumptions, uncovering facts, and exposing realities that the government and the media would rather not talk about. Reason’s "Just Asking Questions" is a weekly show for honesty and open inquiry. We're skeptics of unexamined power. We don't want to be told what to think. But we do want to know which questions to start asking. Hosted by Liz Wolfe and Zach Weissmueller. Produced by John Osterhoudt. Just Asking Questions is published by the Reason Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) research and educational organization based in Los Angeles.

Last refreshed: January 24th, 2026 at 4:41 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

Aaron Sibarium: Did Harvard's Plagiarism Scandal Doom DEI?

Aaron Sibarium , a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon , whose work has been widely credited for exposing the plagiarism of former Harvard President Claudine Gay, joins Reason 's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe on the latest episode of Just Asking Questions to discuss Gay's downfall, as well as its implications for the Ivy League; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and writers and thinkers of all kinds who can now have their work subjected to AI-powered plagiarism detection. Watch the full...

Jan 11, 2024•1 hr 19 min

Tim Carney: Why Aren't People Having More Kids?

"To be a sane and happy parent, you need to be counter-cultural in our family-unfriendly culture," writes Tim Carney in his forthcoming book Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be. Carney, senior columnist at the Washington Examiner , senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the father of six children, talked with Reason 's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe about declining fertility in America and worldwide and why he thinks it's time fo...

Jan 04, 2024•1 hr 19 min

Russ Roberts: Life in Israel Since October 7

When Russ Roberts, an economist and host of the podcast EconTalk , received a job offer to become president of Jerusalem's Shalem University, it seemed like "a no-brainer," he wrote in his 2022 book Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us. Giving up his ability to work from his home in America on whatever interested him intellectually as a fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution? "Only a fool would take the job," he wrote. But that was only if one considered the opportunity using ...

Dec 28, 2023•1 hr 12 min

Stella Assange: Why Isn't Julian Assange a Free Man?

Julian Assange was arrested outside England's Ecuadorian embassy after Ecuador's president revoked his political asylum. The U.S. unsealed an extradition request outlining Espionage Act charges, and U.K. authorities moved him to London's Belmarsh Prison in April 2019, a maximum security facility where inmates are held in small single cells. Amnesty International has drawn parallels between Belmarsh and Guantanamo Bay. Reports and statements from doctors emerged quickly after his imprisonment tes...

Dec 21, 2023•1 hr

Thomas Massie: Why Not Vote 'No'?

"I have a history of being the only vote that was a 'no,'" says Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). "I've developed some trust with my constituents on those lone votes." In the second episode of Just Asking Questions , Massie joins Reason 's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe to talk about his recent votes against aid to Ukraine and Israel, as well as a controversial meme that he posted on X (formerly Twitter), which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted as "antisemitic, disgusting, dangerous." Mass...

Dec 14, 2023•38 min

Dave Smith: What Is a Libertarian?

In this inaugural episode of Just Asking Questions , podcaster Dave Smith joins the show to tackle a fundamental question: "What is a libertarian?" Smith spearheaded the Mises Caucus takeover of the Libertarian Party (L.P.), telling Reason 's Nick Gillespie at the party convention in 2022 that the new L.P. needs "a game changer," someone capable of "re-sparking the Ron Paul Revolution" in the lead-up to the 2024 election. In this episode, Smith discusses what has transpired in the Libertarian Pa...

Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 49 min

Just Asking Questions: A New Reason Podcast!

For the past several months, Reason A ssociate Editor Liz Wolfe and Senior Producer Zach Weissmueller have co-hosted a show on Reason 's YouTube channel and on T he Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie podcast feed called The Reason Livestream . The show has featured discussions with economist Russ Roberts about life in Israel after October 7, Rand Paul on his Senate investigation into the origins of COVID, journalist Josh Barro on the state of the GOP , sex worker and data analyst Aella on stat...

Dec 01, 2023•4 min

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