August 4, 2026

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan / Staff / Getty Images News via Getty Images

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) allow police officers to keep an eye out for vehicles of interest by recording their plate numbers, colors, makes, models, and other features. “The idea is simple: widely disseminating information about such vehicles can help turn ordinary citizens into intelligence assets in child-abduction cases, when time is crucial,” Rafael A. Mangual writes. “The technology has unquestionably saved lives.”

Yet numerous politicians on both sides of the aisle want to ban the technology over privacy concerns. They have made one company, Flock Safety, a primary target. Their efforts are misguided, however, failing to appreciate the benefits this vital technology provides. They also misconstrue privacy rights: filming in public spaces is protected activity, and no one has the right not to be photographed in public.

“Banning technologies in anticipation of harms that have yet to materialize is the wrong approach to policymaking,” Mangual writes. “Where a technology presents genuine risks, policymakers can act to mitigate them. That’s the approach we should take with Flock and other ALPRs.”

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An alarming movement is emerging in American cities. It frames eviction as a form of violence and property owners as exploitative. Its supporters use tactics like litigation, pressure campaigns, and rent strikes to try to take down landlords.

Two such supporters, Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, argue in their influential book, Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis, that tenants should be “the architects of a long-term project of expropriation through which that hoarded wealth becomes shared by us all.” Rosenthal and her allies once even crashed a landlord’s daughter’s wedding.

“As tenant organizers adopt more confrontational tactics, lawmakers should consider reforms to protect landlords—especially owner-operators, the one class of landlords who live side-by-side with their tenants,” Stu Smith writes. “Unlike institutional landlords, who can afford professional property-management teams and robust legal representation, owner-operators often face these conflicts personally. When disputes escalate into harassment, intimidation, or even physical violence, they have a harder time protecting themselves.”

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Earlier this summer, the American Medical Association (AMA) reaffirmed its support for youth gender medicine. Its new policy, “Gender Affirming Healthcare and Research,” shows just how deep its commitment to pediatric medical transition goes, calling for research funding and stating that surgical interventions fall under the rubric of “affirming care.”

But systematic reviews have repeatedly undermined the claim that gender transition is “medically necessary,” while psychological and physiological harms associated with cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers have been well-documented.

“Given the weight of this evidence, the AMA’s maintaining the status quo on youth gender medicine is difficult to square on medical ethical grounds,” Joseph Figliolia writes. “Patient autonomy is important, but it doesn’t override the doctor’s commandment to ‘do no harm’ and to maximize patient health.”

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In a recent LinkedIn post, former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg urged her followers to “keep the past where it belongs—in the past.” She seems concerned about the number of women leaving the workforce and recent movements that have reaffirmed women’s choices as housewives.

Sandberg isn’t wrong about this growing dissatisfaction with corporate feminism, especially among Generation Z. A recent survey found that 47 percent of Gen Z women would rather have a normal job and be married with kids than be successful and independent.

“I don’t believe that these women have been brainwashed by the manosphere or convinced by conservatives that women shouldn’t work. It’s more complicated than that,” Freya India writes. “My worry is that leaning in to work often requires leaning out of something else—namely, other people. This is the question I’m interested in: What does leaning in mean for the people we love?”

Read her take here.