February 20, 2026

Now, on to the news…

It only took about two months for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to change his mind on homeless encampment sweeps. Initially pledging that his administration would end them, he has since reversed course on the policy, not long after several homeless New Yorkers died in the recent extreme cold.

“Trying to put a good spin on things, the mayor is claiming that, after taking office, he simply ‘paused’ sweeps to allow a responsible reassessment of protocol,” Stephen Eide writes, “and that resuming them was always part of the plan.” His supporters, meanwhile, call the about-face “another broken promise.”

Read Eide’s analysis here.

Earlier this month, the left-leaning publication The Argument asked 3,003 registered voters questions relating to gender identity. The results are revealing. While 27 percent supported gender surgeries for minors, 62 percent opposed. And while 33 percent supported puberty blockers, 56 percent opposed. The most surprising finding? When asked if hormones and surgeries should be allowed “when deemed medically necessary by doctors,” respondents remained skeptical.

“The poll’s results thus imply that Americans don’t trust doctors—in particular, it would seem, doctors with ‘gender’ expertise—to make the right decision when it comes to helping children and adolescents who experience discomfort with their sex,” Leor Sapir writes.

Read more about the survey.

California-based Union del Barrio (UdB) describes itself as a “revolutionary organization”—a fair depiction given its actions and beliefs. Founded in 1981 to fight capitalism, the group has disrupted immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, and it glorifies authoritarian leaders like Fidel Castro and rejects individualism as a “bourgeois egotistical trait.”

Now, it wants to take that radicalism a step further. Members of UdB and its offshoot, the Association of Raza Educators, are running for leadership positions within the Los Angeles teachers’ union. “If elected, these activists could further inject their radical politics into an already-struggling school system that hardly needs more leftism,” Stu Smith writes.

Read more about the groups.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires refiners to blend plant-based biofuels into gasoline and diesel sold in the U.S. Enacted in 2005, RFS was intended to boost the supply of fuel produced at home and curb emissions. “Instead of importing more oil, the logic went, we could pay farmers to grow more soybeans (for biodiesel) and corn (to be converted into ethanol and blended into gasoline),” James B. Meigs explains.

But the policy has accomplished little beyond inflating soybean and corn prices. “And because corn and soybeans are major food ingredients—including as feed for cattle, pigs, and chickens—that demand ultimately drives up grocery bills,” Meigs writes.

Read more about RFS and how it ultimately hurts consumers at the store and at the pump.

“Whenever some progressive Marxist complains about white oppression, they should be reminded who ended it.

Who voted to end slavery (and who died fighting the Civil War)? Who voted for women’s suffrage? Who voted to end Jim Crow discrimination?

Largely white men, and given that we are a democratic republic, that means a majority of them were in favor of ending those discriminatory practices.

History is full of people who were backward, uninformed, or just downright evil—and yes, plenty of them have been white. But acting like that makes all white men evil oppressors makes little sense, especially when other white men opposed them in large enough numbers to win.”

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Delta V, commenting on white culture 

Photo credits: Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty Images News via Getty Images