City Journal

EXCLUSIVE: The top official in the Zohran Mamdani administration’s Office for International Affairs made plans to meet with Iran’s ambassador to the UN. Commissioner Ana María Archila was scheduled to meet with Amir-Saeid Iravani in an official capacity. The meeting was called off after the State Department—which was not informed of the meeting ahead of time—met with the Mamdani administration to clarify acceptable conduct. city-journal.org/article/new-yo…

Since 2010, the number of youth residential mental-health treatment programs has declined by more than 60% nationwide. The kids who once would have been helped by those programs did not disappear. They instead entered other public systems—including the juvenile criminal-justice system. Read more from @buttonslives: city-journal.org/article/psychi…

Data centers haven’t been raising residential bills. The sharpest increases are found in states that have pursued the country’s most aggressive climate policies, not those with the most data centers. California, with some of the nation’s fastest-rising electricity rates, has seen relatively modest data-center growth. Virginia, where data centers consume more than a fifth of the state’s electricity, has experienced price increases near the national average. @Shawn_Regan in the City Journal Substack: cityjournal.substack.com/p/data-centers…

As I wrote for @CityJournal seven years ago, regarding Democrats & Republicans, Muslims & Jews, and the shifting political winds: ...American Muslims are where the votes will be. The U.S. Muslim population is expected to double by 2050, to over 2 percent of the U.S. population, while the Jewish population is expected to decline from 1.8 percent to 1.4 percent over the same period. A growing share (though still a minority) of this declining Jewish population is made up of Orthodox Jews, staunchly pro-Israel and overwhelmingly Republican. Conversely, the vast majority of Jews, who have fewer children than other Americans on average and are less likely to prioritize Israel among other issues, vote overwhelmingly Democratic. In short, Muslim votes will be a growth industry for Democratic political entrepreneurs, while Jewish votes will be worth less and less.

This is NY State Senator Kristen Gonzales talking about the data center moratorium at a DSA Ecosocialism event: "I wanted to talk today about a bill that we just passed...that would impose a one-year moratorium on the biggest data centers, and then also talk a little bit about from a socialist and office perspective, what I see some of the challenges being and some of the opportunities for our organization when it comes to data centers." The executive order Hochul signed today was pushed by some of the most radical left-wing groups in the country. This isn't an organic movement. (h/t @thestustustudio): city-journal.org/article/the-le…

America risks losing its AI edge. Public opposition to the technology is hardening, with seven in 10 now rejecting local data centers and moratoria getting enacted across the country. The best argument to counter this opposition is AI’s power to put advanced capabilities in the hands of ordinary workers, small firms, and entrepreneurs wanting to launch new businesses. AI narrows skills gaps and removes barriers to entry; it can be an engine of agency. Its benefits can be diffused to broad sectors of society. Drawing on Echelon polling, Jesse Arm and Sean Speer show how this positive message can reach a cross-partisan pro-AI majority: Aggressive Deployers and Center-Right Abundance voters would form the base; Center-Left and Passive Youth can be persuaded. Read their case for “diffusionism” in @CityJournal: city-journal.org/article/artifi…

Other outlets won't talk about it, but @HMDatMI will. city-journal.org/article/teen-t…

Teen takeovers are not a mystery. They are the predictable result of a culture that increasingly refuses to hold lawbreakers responsible for antisocial behavior, especially if those lawbreakers are black. Every institution that once imposed discipline—the family, the schools, the juvenile-justice system, the police, even public opinion—has been weakened. Despite elite hopes, government programs cannot substitute for the habits of self-control and respect for law that make civil society possible, however. Until those habits are restored, Americans should expect more takeovers and a widening divide between jurisdictions willing to enforce basic norms and those that are not. @HMDatMI's full article: city-journal.org/article/teen-t…

Absent a broader cultural shift, conservative jurisdictions are developing additional ways to curb the takeovers through policing and prosecution. Volusia County, Florida, is emblematic. After a stampede at the Daytona Beach pier, the city declared a state of emergency. @SheriffChitwood activated a "Special Event Zone," which doubled traffic fines and permitted deputies to immediately impound vehicles. @AGJamesUthmeier announced that Statewide Prosecutors would investigate and prosecute those responsible. When online promoters responded with calls for another pier takeover in April, Chitwood issued cease-and-desist letters and threatened civil lawsuits to cover the hundreds of thousands of dollars in policing costs. The April takeover never materialized.

Mass-disorder events that have been dubbed "teen takeovers" are causing chaos across the country. @HMDatMI writes about the real reason youths are rampaging in cities across America—and how to stop it. city-journal.org/article/teen-t…

On July 7, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Florida’s ban on classroom indoctrination. But those celebrating this decision should be careful what they wish for. What the case of Pernell v. Florida Board of Governors shows most clearly is that professors are adamant about the need to use universities to indoctrinate students, @tal_fortgang writes. States will find other ways to take control of their schools. city-journal.org/article/florid…

@NYCMayor @GothamFC Were you also working with Iran?

New York City’s 2027 budget boosts education funding by $894 million, bringing the total to $38.6 billion. No large urban district spends so much and gets so little in results for its children, @dany_egorov writes. city-journal.org/article/new-yo…