August 28, 2026

Photo credit: BRYAN DOZIER / Contributor / AFP via Getty Images

Earlier this summer, the Federal Trade Commission sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), alleging the organization engaged in consumer fraud by claiming that youth gender medicine is safe. But WPATH argues that its guidance constitutes “non-actionable opinions about subjects on which there is medical and scientific uncertainty,” and is therefore protected under the First Amendment. This new framing suggests that WPATH has always been willing to tolerate critics.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Leor Sapir writes. “WPATH has long maintained that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries constitute ‘medically necessary’ and even ‘life-saving’ care for some (and potentially ‘most’) kids with gender dysphoria. For years, WPATH and its allies went to great lengths to tarnish the reputation of critics—external and internal—while aggressively maintaining that the ‘science is settled’ on the necessity of medical interventions.”

The FTC has enough evidence to support its fraud allegation, Sapir observes. Internal WPATH emails show that when the organization was developing its latest “Standards of Care,” it prevented systematic evidence reviews from being published after learning the results were disappointing. It also ignored conflicts of interest among guideline authors, removed age minimums for hormones and surgeries for political reasons, and admitted that its recommendations were designed to guarantee insurance coverage for pricey procedures.

Read more about the lawsuit.

Democrats aren’t happy with the Supreme Court. Earlier this month, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called for “dramatic Supreme Court reform.” Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg calls the Court “rogue.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer calls it the “MAGA Supreme Court” whenever he dislikes a decision. Former Vice President Kamala Harris wants to expand the Court. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse introduced legislation that would impose 18-year terms, with a new justice every two years. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment against Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

“The through-line is obvious: for the Left, it’s only a constitutional crisis when the Court rules against left-wing interests,” Ilya Shapiro writes. “Overturning Roe v. Wade, ending racial preferences in college admissions, invalidating campaign-finance regulations, curbing bureaucratic power, eliminating racial spoils in voting rights—all adverse decisions become evidence that the institution itself is broken.”

Read more.

Third Worldist ideology has migrated from postcolonial politics into the American Left, where it frames Israel as a symbol of Western imperialism and sees Palestinian grievances as part of a broader struggle over power and legitimacy. In City Journal’s summer 2026 issue, Zineb Riboua traces the Third Worldist ideology through the Black Panthers, Maoist groups, academia, and Islamist movements, arguing that they help explain New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s politics.

“Mayor Mamdani embodies these currents in his political biography,” she writes. “A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he identifies publicly as a Muslim of South Asian and East African descent, cofounded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine while an undergraduate at Bowdoin, and inherits the intellectual tradition his father has developed over four decades. His middle name honors Kwame Nkrumah, one of the principal theorists of Third Worldism. In Mamdani, the socialist, Muslim, and postcolonial academic traditions meet.”

Read more here.

Dolly Parton lived a large life. She was the master at storytelling through country music, with the ability to turn ordinary experiences into deeply resonant stories about love and family.

“Any number of her songs demonstrate her gift,” Scott Dziengelski writes. “A common choice is ‘I Will Always Love You,’ written by Parton in 1973 and released in 1974. It was rerecorded in 1992 by Whitney Houston, who gave it a second life and a second meaning. The recordings tell two stories—one when Parton sings, one when Houston sings. The words don’t change, but the story does.”

Read on.