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Good morning,
Today, we’re looking at why Chinese cars should stay off American roads, HHS’s report on pediatric gender medicine, the ramifications of tenant-friendly legislation, and why the “effective altruism” movement is problematic.
Don’t forget to write to us at editors@city-journal.org with questions or comments.
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Last month, President Trump announced that he wanted foreign automakers to build on American soil—and not just Japanese manufacturers, but Chinese, too.
Jordan McGillis argues that this is the wrong move. While such a policy might help to accomplish the broader goal of balancing trade, “the sensitive technological nature of modern vehicles should place it squarely out of bounds,” he writes.
Indeed, as cars become increasingly technologically advanced and rely on computing for everything from ignitions to braking systems, they also become more vulnerable to hacking and malware. “China’s state-backed hacking, including of critical systems like utility networks, could be used to target U.S. auto infrastructure given the right motive and opportunity,” McGillis notes.
Read his take on why allowing China’s cars and auto-tech on U.S. roads could pose a national security risk.
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently conducted a review of pediatric gender medicine, and the findings are clear: gender-affirming interventions such as puberty blockers and surgeries are supported only by very low-quality evidence. “Risks include sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone-density and brain development, psychiatric comorbidities, and surgical complications,” writes evolutionary biologist Colin Wright. Read his breakdown of the report here.
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The Covid lockdowns sparked a wave of tenant-friendly legislation across the country, much of it still in effect. Landlords have taken a severe financial hit from these policies. Protections like eviction bans have made it easier for tenants to game the system and refuse to pay rent.
But landlords aren’t the only ones who will suffer, Steven Malanga observes in our Spring issue. “Research shows that such policies, by discouraging real-estate investment, are limiting housing supply and driving up rents,” he writes. Read his take on how such laws can wind up hurting the very people they are meant to protect.
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The “effective altruism” movement has gained an increasing number of prominent followers in recent years. It asserts that donations should go to the charities doing the most good, even if that means abandoning other causes. Some of its champions take extreme positions—arguing, for example, that everyone should work hard to maximize his income just so he can give it all away, “even if it means living a spartan existence,” writes Brian Patrick Eha.
But this kind of thinking is unwise, because “once you start down that road,” Eha writes, “there is no end to it. How many dead Africans does your iPhone equal? Your car? Do you deserve to eat three meals a day while some people go hungry? Why should you enjoy two kidneys when other people need only one?”
Read why he sees effective altruism as “at bottom, the logic not of care but of Communism.”
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Charles Fain Lehman, Ilya Shapiro, Daniel Di Martino, and Tal Fortgang discuss the deal between the U.S. and China to temporarily lower tariffs, Trump’s executive order on prescription drug prices, and Chicago-isms Pope Leo XIV should bring to the Vatican.
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“This is the most insightful piece of intellectual enterprise I have read – anywhere – in months. I admire the author. Would love to hear more of this person’s insights into things. Hats off to her/him! (If they meant anything anymore, this scholarship is of a Pulitzer prize winning calibre).”
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Photo credits: NurPhoto / Contributor / NurPhoto via Getty Images
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A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson.
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