A Harmless Ad That Sent the Left into a Rage

“Sydney Sweeney is beautiful, blonde, busty, and unapologetic. Somehow, that’s a scandal,” writes Jesse Arm.

He dissects the Left’s outraged response to Sweeney’s new American Eagle Outfitters’ ad campaign and the public’s indifference to these critics, arguing that the whole episode shows the waning power of wokeness to shape political culture.

“Americans are tired of being policed for what they like, for who they find attractive, for enjoying a cheeky ad without reading a political treatise into it,” he writes. Read more here.

Like Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani enjoys heavyweight labor endorsements, Esme Vroom and Santiago Vidal Calvo write, which “could signal the democratic socialist’s desire to pursue a union-first governing style similar to Johnson’s in Chicago.” Johnson has embraced a union-centric approach to education, in particular, and the results have been disastrous. Read what’s at stake for schools and students if New York were to follow a similar approach.

In blue states across the country, Democratic lawmakers have rallied to adopt Native American mascot bans, which require local schools to change American Indian-themed team names and imagery as a condition of receiving state aid. These laws have forced school districts to abandon cherished traditions and branding, which often span generations.

Those who advocate mascot bans typically cite social science papers, which purport to demonstrate that American Indian–themed mascots cause psychological distress in Native students. But as Carolyn Gorman and Neetu Arnold argue, some of these studies have key methodological flaws and rely on questionable psychometric research. Moreover, they claim, this debate has been dominated by progressive activists, who “often don’t reflect the views of the minority communities they claim to represent or study.”

With racialist ideologies rapidly losing favor with Washington lawmakers and the public, the American College of Surgeons faced a choice: stick with its DEI initiatives, scrap them entirely, or attempt to split the difference by rebranding them under a new name. Unsurprisingly, writes Richard T. Bosshardt, it chose the third option.

No one should fall for the organization’s DEI facelift, Bosshardt argues. “The ACS leadership needs to acknowledge its mistake in embracing critical race theory in the guise of antiracism and DEI. . . . Only then can the ACS restore the trust it has squandered.”

Read his article here.

Douglas Murray joins Charles Fain Lehman to discuss last week’s shooting in Manhattan, along with broader urban disorder and examples of political violence throughout history. They also look at President Trump’s moves on immigration and what other western nations can learn from U.S. policy. Lastly, Murray discusses his recent win in a defamation claim against him, and how it has affected his views of press freedom.

“Another splendid article from one of America’s most serious, balanced, and precise social critics.”

Photo credit: Emma McIntyre / Staff / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images