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Good morning,
Today, we’re looking at the political and financial might of California’s public-sector unions, the Young Democratic Socialists of America’s new co-chairs, and a growing movement against press freedom in the U.K.
Write to us at editors@city-journal.org with questions or comments. |
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Photo credit: Allen J. Schaben / Contributor / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images |
California imposes massive taxes on its residents. The Golden State’s finances are in shambles. One group, more than any other, benefits from this arrangement: public-sector unions.
In a new investigation, Chris Rufo and Kenneth Schrupp report that ten of the largest California-based unions with public-sector employees raked in more than $1 billion in the calendar or fiscal year ending in 2024. They used this money for an array of programs, including paying political organizers, lobbying, staging tony events, and more.
Read their full report on how the unions are breaking the state’s back. |
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The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) elected two militant activists as co-chairs, reflecting the organization’s increasingly confrontational approach to political and labor organizing. James Hernández and Mae Bracelin were included in a Jacobin magazine feature titled “America’s Next Generation of Socialist Organizers.” City Journal Investigative Analyst Stu Smith outlines their backgrounds in far-left circles and their preparations for a May Day general strike in 2028.
“The election of Hernández and Bracelin as YDSA co-chairs is more evidence that the DSA itself has no plans to moderate and will continue to push the envelope of acceptability,” Smith writes. “While the DSA’s radical ceiling is still yet to be reached, its national platform, its Red Rabbits Security Commission, its pro-revolutionary-violence Maoist national leader, and its alignment with hostile regimes from Iran to Cuba all suggest a broader pattern of increasingly extreme positions and tactics.”
Read more here. |
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Since Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor, was found dead earlier this month, many on the Left have blamed journalists, claiming that he was “lynched” by a “media running on monetised hate and cruelty.”
This is completely misguided, Joanna Williams argues. “Blaming the media for Arday’s death lets not just Cambridge but British academia off the hook,” she writes. “These universities were so in thrall to DEI that they abandoned all critical faculties. When journalists challenged them, they dug in their heels and defended Arday.” Arday’s death is a tragedy. It shouldn’t be used as an excuse to restrict press freedom. Read about the growing movement against journalists in the U.K. |
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“Like most of Southern California, L.A. is hopeless. The citizens are at fault; they’re the ones who elect the socialists and Communists and racists, and they are the ones who fail to teach their own children how to be responsible human beings, students, and citizens. They are also the ones who support the continuing invasion of illegal aliens.
Until the citizens pull their heads out of those deep, dark places, little or nothing will improve.” |
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A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson. |
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Copyright © 2026 Manhattan Institute, All rights reserved. |
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