Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He lives in Venice, California, and is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.

At What Age Will You Stop Using Facebook?

At What Age Will You Stop Using Facebook?

Will you still add me, will you still tag me, when I'm 64? More »

Yes, Pakistanis Really Do Hate America's Killer Drones

Yes, Pakistanis Really Do Hate America's Killer Drones

The only major demographic in the country that doesn't? People who don't know about it. More »

Senator Frank Lautenberg Is Too Old to Run for Reelection

Senator Frank Lautenberg Is Too Old to Run for Reelection

The 89-year-old New Jerseyan is refusing to bow out in 2014 -- in defiance of both fellow Democrat Cory Booker and actuarial tables. More »

Peek at the Ruling Elite's Letter of Recommendation for John Brennan

Peek at the Ruling Elite's Letter of Recommendation for John Brennan

Former colleagues have penned a glowing tribute from lofty perches in business, law, and academia. You'll be amazed at what they left out. More »

The GOP Should Always Do the Opposite of What Bill Kristol Says

The GOP Should Always Do the Opposite of What Bill Kristol Says

The man who touted the Iraq War and Sarah Palin says Republicans are in danger of being too self-critical. How would he know? More »

The Audacity of Fluff: A Critical Reading of Obama's Inaugural Address

The Audacity of Fluff: A Critical Reading of Obama's Inaugural Address

The president's words elided inconvenient realities and too often lacked rigor. More »

Hearing the Siren Song of Drone Strikes, Obama Won't Tie Himself Down

Hearing the Siren Song of Drone Strikes, Obama Won't Tie Himself Down

The president and his underlings refuse to be bound even by secret rules they invented and believe to be prudent. More »

8 Ways to Stop Overzealous Prosecutors From Destroying Lives

8 Ways to Stop Overzealous Prosecutors From Destroying Lives

Aaron Swartz was mistreated by the criminal-justice system, but no more than the countless less-famous defendants who'd benefit from these reforms. More »

Would Jesus Christ Mind If You Flew to Paradise on a Sunday?

Would Jesus Christ Mind If You Flew to Paradise on a Sunday?

The question is at the core of what may be the most remote political dispute on earth. More »

The Mayor Who Took a Sledgehammer to NYC's Pinball Machines

The Mayor Who Took a Sledgehammer to NYC's Pinball Machines

An absurd outbreak of moral panic and needless paternalism decades before "Nanny Bloomberg" took over More »

Reform Immigration, but Don't Create Second-Class Non-Citizens

Reform Immigration, but Don't Create Second-Class Non-Citizens

The restrictionists don't like it, but rising stars of the GOP are lining up behind "comprehensive reform." But must we have "guest workers"? More »

Rush Limbaugh: 'You Know How to Stop Abortion? Require That Each One Occur With a Gun'

Rush Limbaugh: 'You Know How to Stop Abortion? Require That Each One Occur With a Gun'

Further proof that the easiest way to discredit him is to quote him verbatim and in context More »

Who Are These 'Hucksters' Jonah Goldberg Is Warning Us About?

Who Are These 'Hucksters' Jonah Goldberg Is Warning Us About?

He says the conservative movement has an "unhealthy share" of them. So why not call them out? More »

A Broken Foreign Policy Establishment Turns to Mali

A Broken Foreign Policy Establishment Turns to Mali

President Obama failed to anticipate the consequences of intervening in Libya and has made no effort to involve Congress in what may be his next war. More »

The Fake Catch-22 of Drone-War Apologists

The Fake Catch-22 of Drone-War Apologists

They express discomfort at the indefensible, then talk as if it can't be reformed without giving up on targeted killing entirely. More »

The ACLU Fights the 'Live Free or Die' State on Education

The ACLU Fights the 'Live Free or Die' State on Education

Is a tax credit that benefits "scholarship organizations" really a threat to religious liberty? More »

Why Being 'Out of the Mainstream' Doesn't Disqualify Chuck Hagel

Why Being 'Out of the Mainstream' Doesn't Disqualify Chuck Hagel

The Washington establishment has blundered badly in foreign policy over the last decade. Do we really want any more of its groupthink? More »

A Senator's Lonely Crusade to Learn the CIA's Secrets

A Senator's Lonely Crusade to Learn the CIA's Secrets

Ron Wyden is entitled to know the rules that surround targeted killing and all the countries where America is killing people. But no one will tell him. More »

The High Cost of Shutting Down One Medical Marijuana Operation

The High Cost of Shutting Down One Medical Marijuana Operation

A single prosecution can easily run more than $1 million -- all to send an empty message about federal drug laws and hand the market share over to a less savory purveyor. More »

A City Where All Teens Would Be Forced to Carry Loaded AR-15s

A City Where All Teens Would Be Forced to Carry Loaded AR-15s

Gun enthusiasts want to build it in the mountains of Idaho. They've already drawn up plans and are taking applications. More »

The Biggest Story in Photos

Photos of Tornado Damage in Moore, Oklahoma

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