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Joined December 2008
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When Mayor Mamdani fails to deliver all he has promised, we will be here to pick up the pieces.
We love New York. We love the free market. And we're here to deliver solutions that work. nytimes.com/2026/07/29/nyreg…
Insane story out of California:
Gavin Newsom admitted in 2014 that "we wildly overstated the ridership projections" and "manipulated some of the revenue projections" for California's high-speed rail project. He said the full project was unlikely to "materialize in our lifetime."
Yet the project is still ongoing, and has sunk more than $677 million on environmental paperwork.
That money is benefiting well-connected contractors, who have requested $480,000 “to dig small burrows for mammals by hand”; $352,490 for lizard surveys and reports; and $290,000 to implement the state’s environmental-requirements-tracking software.
In one case, California’s high-speed rail agency revised its draft environmental report after the state proposed a regional mountain lion as a candidate for protected status.
Investigation by @christopherrufo & @austenhufford: city-journal.org/article/hig…
How do you break out of a "low-status" box?
"You can find ways to repair some of those things, where you can learn take elocution lessons and learn to speak louder, more clearly; you can practice body language; you can take improv classes. There are successful stories of people who glow up."
@robkhenderson on 'Figuring Out' with @rajshamani:
The inmates run the asylum at the American Psychological Association.
APA Division 39's flagship conference featured workshops on "Fragments of a Queer Anarchist Psychoanalysis," "'White' Analysis," and "family abolition."
One session, "Feel the F— Fantasy (Redux): Drag, Desire, and Queer Theory at WERK in Psychoanalysis," concluded with a drag performance.
A substantial part of organized psychology has ceased behaving like scientific and professional bodies and has become a vehicle for left-wing political activism, @SwipeWright & Andrew Hartz write in @WSJ. wsj.com/opinion/the-inmates-…
The property tax debate often emerges as a fight between older and younger Americans, but the anti-property tax movement also divides the Right as a whole.
"Anti-tax activists contend that the levies turn homeowners into vassals who pay rent to the government for the use of their own house — one that could be seized after an unpaid bill.
'That branding has been one of the most successful political slogans in modern memory,' @judgeglock said. 'It is incredible how powerful that language has become on the right to strike down anybody who believes in any sort of property taxes.'"
“I’m old. I’ve paid my home off,” said Ray Warner, a 72-year-old Akron resident. “Why would I pay property tax?”
Across the country, homeowners are asking the same question and revolting against property taxes at a scale not seen in a half century.
politico.com/news/magazine/2…
New York finally had its turnaround moment in 1993.
"When New Yorkers set aside their long-standing antipathy to be considered a Republican and voted for Rudolph Giuliani...that led to the most radical, successful urban revolution in urban governance in history."
@HMDatMI on @TheUnspeakeasy with @meghan_daum:
$122 for three items from a Thai takeout place?
Blame sky-high minimum wages for delivery drivers: Seattle passed legislation that guarantees a $26 minimum wage for drivers. Other cities have done the same.
@judgeglock tells @JohnStossel: "You have, frankly, usually an economically illiterate city council or mayor who comes in and thinks basically by looking at an industry through reading the daily news, they can appropriately regulate the exact wage."
Communism kills kindness.
"During Stalin's forced collectivization campaigns, Lev Kopelev describes being horrified at hearing the screams of children. And then upon feeling compassion he immediately reprimands himself because you shouldn't be feeling this way, you shouldn't be feeling compassion, you shouldn't be feeling sympathy, because all of this is in service of the communist ideology...
...we're seeing, I think, some echoes of this today where if you are a member of the wrong class or category then you shouldn't feel sympathy. You actually should be celebrated for being cruel to that person."
@robkhenderson on the @BenShapiroShow ⬇️
Perhaps one of the more amusing instances of DOGE-induced panic were data librarians who panicked about cuts to statistical agencies and created a "Data Rescue Project."
The datasets that have stopped publication since Trump’s inauguration included an annual count of mink pelts produced, an interactive map guessing how much climate change might cost each U.S. county, and a consumer complaint database about financial companies (perhaps the administration concluded that American consumers already have plenty of outlets for complaining online).
DOGE worked. Most importantly, the civil service is 12% smaller than it was in Jan 2025.
In the Fall @CityJournal, I show they were not replaced by contractors, the biggest cuts were to middle managers, and the predictions of disaster were proven false. city-journal.org/article/dog…
Manhattan Institute retweeted
Balanced piece by Judge: the civil service is 12% smaller, cuts to grants far less steep than even I had hoped, but done well overall.
"By most indications, the federal government is running much as it did before. Some critics may have to admit: the DOGE workforce cuts worked."
DOGE worked. Most importantly, the civil service is 12% smaller than it was in Jan 2025.
In the Fall @CityJournal, I show they were not replaced by contractors, the biggest cuts were to middle managers, and the predictions of disaster were proven false. city-journal.org/article/dog…
41% of voters under 30 said it was acceptable to shoot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back.
"This is terrifying...it's easy to feel compassion for your allies and for your friends. But the real test of that human feeling is, can you feel it for people who are members of disfavored groups or people that your group despises?"
@robkhenderson on the @BenShapiroShow ⬇️
You can read the full @TheFP piece that's referenced here: thefp.com/p/how-communism-ki…
Manhattan Institute retweeted
Californians are unhappy with how their state is governed, and many support reforms that challenge progressive orthodoxy: mandatory treatment for people living on the streets, greater accountability for public-sector workers, and tougher controls on government waste. But that frustration hasn’t translated into a willingness to elect Republicans. Voters want different results while remaining resistant to candidates associated with the Right.
That disconnect protects establishment Democrats from accountability and gives the far Left an opening. When voters want change but consider Republicans unacceptable, socialist challengers can present themselves as the only alternative—even when their policies don’t match what those voters actually want. Democratic victories therefore shouldn’t automatically be interpreted as endorsements of progressive governance, nor should enthusiasm for socialist candidates be mistaken for enthusiasm for socialism.
Achieving meaningful reform would require a coalition that crosses partisan lines, likely through relatively pragmatic Democrats who can reach voters Republicans simply cannot. San Francisco’s Daniel Lurie offers one example. Conservatives have to decide whether they care more about advancing Republicans or changing how California governs, while reform-minded liberals have to decide whether they’re willing to confront the unions, activists, and politicians obstructing their stated goals.
California has no shortage of voters who understand that something is broken. What the Golden State lacks is a durable political vehicle for fixing it.
My latest in @CityJournal on some of our recent @ManhattanInst California polling statewide and in Los Angeles:
city-journal.org/article/man…
Two of California’s most prominent Democrats carry negative net favorability ratings with voters: Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris.
Newsom and Harris are especially unpopular among men and Asian voters.
From our latest poll: manhattan.institute/article/…
California contains contradictions.
Read about them in our latest @ManhattanInst statewide and LA polling: manhattan.institute/article/…
Manhattan Institute retweeted
California contains contradictions.
Read about them in our latest @ManhattanInst statewide and LA polling: manhattan.institute/article/…
🚨 NEW @ManhattanInst CALIFORNIA POLL
CA Governor:
🟦 Xavier Becerra: 55%
🟥 Steve Hilton: 38%
LA Mayor:
🟪 Nithya Raman: 38%
🟦 Karen Bass (inc): 32%
Prop 40 (billionaire wealth tax):
🟥 Oppose: 50%
🟩 Support: 35%
Blue ballots, but frustration with blue governance.
Californians favor Democrats while opposing the billionaire wealth tax and racial preferences, supporting compulsory addiction treatment, and backing limits on public-sector union power to improve services.
More details on our findings below. 🧵
A far-left "femme-led" activist group whose founders want to abolish prisons is helping elect judges in L.A.
La Defensa says that it "belong[s] to" several "communities," namely "Chicanx, queer, immigrant, undocumented, working class people with incarcerated loved ones."
NEW: Prison abolitionists just bought three L.A. Superior Court seats: One judge equates the bench to a slave ship; another wants healing circles to "deconstruct" the justice system; a third suggested that the violent crime problem in L.A. is "exaggerat[ed]" and wants to end "mass incarceration."
La Defensa hopes to use L.A. as the launchpad to transform the judiciary "all the way up to the Supreme Court"—and they've spent nearly a million dollars to do it.
@christopherrufo & @austenhufford's latest: city-journal.org/article/los…
The majority (62%) of California voters support involuntary treatment for homeless addicts as the "more compassionate" response.
Only 20% think that it's more compassionate to allow homeless addicts to refuse treatment.
From our latest poll: manhattan.institute/article/…
Medicare for All is a scam for radicals to take over the Democratic Party — @Jesse_Leg ⬇️
It "is a process by which...the Abdul El-Sayed socialist wing of the Democratic Party can take over the husk of the former Democratic establishment, that basically now stands for nothing."
Jesse Arm on @FoxNews with @IngrahamAngle:
NEW: Does California’s long-running pattern of Democratic electoral success reflect an endorsement of its governing approach, or does it coexist with broader dissatisfaction about the state’s performance on its most pressing challenges?
Our new poll answers this and more 🧵⬇️ manhattan.institute/article/…
🚨 NEW @ManhattanInst CALIFORNIA POLL
CA Governor:
🟦 Xavier Becerra: 55%
🟥 Steve Hilton: 38%
LA Mayor:
🟪 Nithya Raman: 38%
🟦 Karen Bass (inc): 32%
Prop 40 (billionaire wealth tax):
🟥 Oppose: 50%
🟩 Support: 35%
Blue ballots, but frustration with blue governance.
Californians favor Democrats while opposing the billionaire wealth tax and racial preferences, supporting compulsory addiction treatment, and backing limits on public-sector union power to improve services.
More details on our findings below. 🧵
Manhattan Institute retweeted
Seattle city council wanted to help "exploited" gig workers.
So they forced delivery apps to pay drivers MORE.
"I wouldn’t assume that prices are going to go up," said one politician.
But prices DID go up.
@judgeglock of @ManhattanInst explains how regulation backfired:
MI's @Jesse_Leg calls out former Republican consultant @TaraSetmayer on CNN:
"Until relatively recently you were a Republican political consultant...but now you say there are no good Republicans. Maybe you're the one that changed. You just swapped your jersey for a financial incentive."