James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, acquired Vox Media’s New York Magazine, podcast division, and explanatory journalism brand Vox.com in a deal reportedly worth more than $300 million.
The acquired divisions will fold into James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, the media investment company he founded in 2019 after resigning from the board of News Corp over editorial disagreements. The deal brings New York Magazine — which is currently embroiled in a plagiarism scandal — back into the Murdoch family orbit decades after Rupert Murdoch owned the publication in the late 1970s before selling it in 1991. Vox purchased the magazine in 2019 for $105 million. 
James Murdoch said the acquisition reflects his focus on long-term media brands that resonate with modern culture. New York Magazine currently publishes both print and digital content across verticals including The Cut, Grub Street, and Vulture. Vox Media’s podcast division spans politics, technology, sports, personal finance, and self-help programming, with hosts including Kara Swisher and Maria Sharapova.
Lupa Systems did not disclose the exact purchase price of the deal but sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times Vox Media was acquired for more than $300 million dollars. In 2015, that figure would have been much higher since Vox Media was reportedly worth about $1 billion at the time. 
Vox Media will act as a subsidiary of Lupa Systems while collaborating with the company’s broader portfolio, including the Tribeca Film Festival and Bodhi Tree Systems, an investment platform that backs a major streaming service in India.
Not included in the deal are Vox Media properties The Verge and Eater, which will remain under the restructured Vox Media and be overseen by current president Ryan Pauley.
James Murdoch is betting big on podcasts, saying that in a world with content “slop” and “packaged media,” he thinks people will turn to podcasts that are “authentic.” Last year, Vox’s podcast division did <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/business/media/vox-media-james-murdoch-sale.html?smtyp=cur&amp;amp;smid=tw-nytimes">$80 million</a> in revenue. 
The acquisition is on par with the growing trend of media consolidation as companies navigate the decimation of search-driven clicks replaced by artificial intelligence summaries, social media disruption, and changing audience preferences. Over the past decade, WarnerMedia merged with Discovery, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost, Fox Corporation acquired OutKick, and The New York Times acquired The Athletic, among numerous other deals.
New York Magazine is currently undergoing an internal investigation after one of its columnists, Ross Barkan, was accused by Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell of copying his Daily Wire hit piece.
There were some identical phrases, such as &#8220;In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election,&#8221; and the pieces showed similar framing. Both stories began with a claim that Ben Shapiro could say he was at the top of conservative media, that the Daily Wire dominated news feeds, and that the Daily Wire found new stories, including Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s visit to a hair salon after advocating for a lockdown.

Screen Shot 2022-10-04 at 11.37.46 AM

Fox Scion Buys Up Podcasts, Vox, And Scandal-Plagued NY Mag In $300 Mil Deal

Business

Media

New York Magazine

podcasts

New York Magazine is investigating writer Ross Barkan for plagiarism after he seemingly ripped off his lede paragraph in a recent hit piece against The Daily Wire.
Barkan recently joined the new liberal media trend of writing rumor-laden attacks on The Daily Wire. After his story was published, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell took to X to complain that Barkan&#8217;s lede was almost identical to the one he had published days earlier.
After Barkan was called out, New York Magazine updated his story to credit Harwell, seemingly acknowledging that it was a direct rip-off. NPR then identified at least two other instances where Barkan ripped off entire paragraphs, this time from The Intercept and Compact Magazine.
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The lede of our Shapiro story on Saturday and the lede of the <a href="https://twitter.com/NYMag?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYMag</a> story today<a href="https://t.co/P20BkpGhqW">https://t.co/P20BkpGhqW</a><a href="https://t.co/Ha03RLE3qs">https://t.co/Ha03RLE3qs</a> <a href="https://t.co/64OzrvFcRS">pic.twitter.com/64OzrvFcRS</a>
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) <a href="https://twitter.com/drewharwell/status/2054927246788304931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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New York Magazine spokesperson Lauren Starke <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/05/17/nx-s1-5824503/new-york-magazine-review-ross-barkan">told NPR</a> that the magazine is &#8220;conducting a review of the writer&#8217;s prior work.&#8221;
Rather than deny that he is a plagiarist, Barkan argued online that it&#8217;s okay because he credited the people he was stealing from.
&#8220;I am allowed, as a columnist building on *his* reporting, to cite facts. Especially when he&#8217;s credited,&#8221; Barkan said of the Compact Magazine incident.
He further attempted to brush the issue under the rug in a statement to NPR: &#8220;I have written hundreds upon hundreds of columns, essays, and pieces of journalism in my career. I stand by my record.&#8221;
He added that this is &#8220;all quite ridiculous.&#8221;
Barkan has been a prolific writer, and liberal, in the New York scene. In addition to New York Magazine, he has also written for The New York Times, and in 2018 ran for state senate (but lost) as a Democrat.

“Trump – Year One” Presidential Panel

Reporter Behind Anti-Daily Wire Hit Piece Now Facing Plagiarism Investigation

The Daily Wire

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york-magazine">New York Magazine</a> recently devoted their cover to a snapshot from one of President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>’s inauguration parties &#8212; but some people who were there accuse the outlet of intentionally cropping out black party attendees and then claiming in the article that the party was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/racism">mostly “white.”</a>
The magazine’s headline included the bold text, “The Cruel Kids’ Table,” and featured attendees dressed in gowns and tuxedos from a party called the “Power 30 Awards” on the eve of the inauguration. 
The article’s author Brock Colyar wrote, “almost everyone is white,” followed by his take on the party. “The men look like Pete Hegseth, in bow ties and black suits, with clean-shaven faces. The women are almost all out of their league.”
In another quote from the story, a woman who attended a different inauguration party allegedly said: “Have you noticed the entire room is white?”
Conservative commentator Christopher Barnard posted the full photo which accompanied the story inside the magazine on X, noting how it had been strategically cropped. “New York Magazine literally cropped all the black people out of this cover photo and then complained that ‘the entire room is white,’” he wrote on X.
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New York Magazine literally cropped all the black people out of this cover photo and then complained that “the entire room is white” <a href="https://t.co/gCatY1lZzG">https://t.co/gCatY1lZzG</a> <a href="https://t.co/VhoaiJhqg1">pic.twitter.com/VhoaiJhqg1</a>
&mdash; Christopher Barnard (@ChrisBarnardDL) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisBarnardDL/status/1884028088843190523?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Co-chair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory Council CJ Pearson also took to X and <a href="https://x.com/thecjpearson/status/1883992066784416231">showed</a> the full version of the cropped cover photo.
“This is insane. I hosted this event and @NYMag intentionally left me out of their story because it would have undermined their narrative that MAGA is some racist cult,” Pearson wrote. “They also didn’t include the fact that @WakaFlocka and @Gervontaa were also there.”
“You don’t hate the liberal media enough,” he concluded.
Other black conservatives who attended the event included former Georgia State Representative Vernon Jones, Turning Point USA contributor Rob Smith, and PragerU’s Xaviaer DuRousseau.
Colyar mentioned DuRousseau in the article without revealing that he was black. Pearson, Jones, and Smith were not mentioned at all, per <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/new-york-mag-accused-of-cropping-black-people-out-of-trump-party-it-said-was-nearly-all-white/">Mediaite</a>.
“I was at this party as were MANY other Conservative media influencers who are Black, Latino, Asian, etc,” Smith posted on X. “NYMag used a whites only photo to push the media narrative that diverse Republicans don’t exist and weren’t welcome. You don’t hate the media enough.”
New York Magazine provided the New York Post with a comment on the photo cropping drama. A spokesperson <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/28/media/ny-magazine-ripped-for-cropping-black-people-from-trump-party-cover/">said</a>, “The magazine’s most recent cover story explores the new class of conservatives taking Washington by storm, through the lens of inauguration weekend. The cover was cropped to the center of a picture that was published in full online, and we believe both the cover and story provide an accurate impression of the weekend.”

New York Magazine Logo on Building Exterior

NY Mag Slammed For Cropping Black People Out Of Trump Party Photo, Saying It Was So ‘White’

NY Mag Slammed For Cropping Black People Out Of Trump Party Photo, Saying It Was So 'White'

Donald Trump

Inauguration

Politics

Racism

New York Magazine journalist <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/olivia-nuzzi">Olivia Nuzzi</a>, who was put on leave following revelations about an inappropriate relationship she allegedly had with former presidential candidate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/robert-f-kennedy-jr">Robert F. Kennedy Jr</a>., is now engaged in a court battle with her former fiancé Ryan Lizza.
Lizza is a reporter for Politico who has also been placed on leave in the wake of the incident. Now more details about Nuzzi’s relationships with both RFK Jr. and Lizza are going public. Nuzzi alleged in a recent court filing that Lizza hacked her devices and used the information he found there to blackmail her, per a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/media/claims-over-reporters-relationship-with-rfk-jr-surface-in-her-legal-feud-with-ex-ed1b2b0a">report</a> from The Wall Street Journal. The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york-magazine">New York Mag</a> reporter also claimed he threatened her with physical violence. 
Lizza denied those allegations in a new court filing and provided further detail about his ex’s rumored relationship with the former presidential hopeful. Lizza claimed that Nuzzi told him she had an affair with RFK Jr. which she allegedly described as  “toxic,” “unhealthy,” “psychotic,” and “indefensible.”
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1729077615157000&amp;usg=AOvVaw17Kprl74oE9DYOLREdiBPU">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28</a>
Lizza said Nuzzi told him that Kennedy wanted to “possess,” “control,” and “impregnate” her, plus mentioned the “huge power disparity.” The Politico reporter said he obtained that information directly from Nuzzi and he did not access her devices without permission. He claimed to have broken off his engagement to Nuzzi in August and accused his former fiancée of having a separate affair in 2020.
Nuzzi was placed on leave in September after it was discovered that she may have had an inappropriate relationship with RFK Jr., a charge he has denied, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ny-mag-places-star-journalist-on-leave-for-alleged-personal-relationship">reported</a>. A rep for Kennedy said in a statement, “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”
Nuzzi told The New York Times that “some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal” earlier in 2024, adding, “During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source. The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”

Olivia Nuzzi

NY Mag Journalist’s Feud With Ex Reveals More Details About Alleged RFK Jr. Affair

NY Mag Journalist's Feud With Ex Reveals More Details About Alleged RFK Jr. Affair

Lawsuit

Legacy Media

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

U.S.

New York Magazine has placed star journalist Olivia Nuzzi on leave, claiming she “had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign.”
According to <a href="https://www.status.news/p/olivia-nuzzi-rfk-new-york-magazine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Status</a>, New York Magazine had learned that “the star journalist had allegedly engaged in a romantic relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”
“Recently our Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzzi acknowledged to the magazine’s editors that she had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign, a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures,” New York Magazine <a href="https://nymag.com/press/article/a-note-to-our-readers.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in a note to its readers. “Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign. An internal review of her published work has found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias. She is currently on leave from the magazine, and the magazine is conducting a more thorough third-party review. We regret this violation of our readers’ trust.”
A spokesman for Kennedy told Status, “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.” The impact of RFK Jr.’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump has caused great concern among Democrats, so much so that efforts to keep him on the ballot and thus hinder Kennedy’s efforts to transfer his voters to Trump have been mounted in swing states such as <a href="//159D9887-F067-4101-BB71-2347CB93442F/v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michigan</a> and <a href="//159D9887-F067-4101-BB71-2347CB93442F/v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">North Carolina</a>.
Nuzzi told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/business/media/olivia-nuzzi-rfk-jr.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> that “some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal” earlier in 2024, adding, “During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source. The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”
In March, Nuzzi wrote a <a href="//159D9887-F067-4101-BB71-2347CB93442F/v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">profile</a> of RFK Jr. in which she quoted him saying, “I don’t hear Democrats ever say that we should vote for President Biden because he inspires them, or because he’s run the country with the kind of vigor or energy that we need in times of crisis. I hear them say that you should vote for Biden because you should be scared of Trump.”
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
“Since announcing in October that he would end his campaign for the Democratic nomination to officially become a problem for both major parties as an independent, fear — and denial — is what Kennedy seems to inspire among the staid Washington Establishment supporting the incumbent president and the gangland anti-Establishment Establishment supporting the former president,” she wrote. “Officials from both party apparatuses are certainly looking at metrics that confirm Kennedy is turning the presidential election upside down.”
“To weaken Biden ahead of the general election, his enemies would need a candidate more likely to generate the kind of spectacle and outrage that tends to draw eyeballs,” she continued. “A candidate with qualities that were more, well, Trumpian. They found their answer in the biggest brand name in American politics since Roosevelt. As a bonus, the candidate held a set of idiosyncratic populist beliefs that would challenge Biden from the dovish left and from the libertarian right. In the primary, Kennedy was a nuisance solely for Biden. Which made him a blessing for Trump.”
In addition to New York Magazine, Nuzzi has reported for GQ, Esquire, The Daily Beast, Glamour, The Washington Post, and POLITICO.

US-POLITICS-CORRESPONDENTS

NY Mag Places Star Journalist On Leave For Alleged ‘Personal Relationship’

New York Magazine&#8217;s latest cover story — which explored what they apparently believed to be the baffling and &#8220;surprising evolution&#8221; through which Republican women have gone over the years — prompted a wave of backlash on Tuesday, as many asked whether anyone connected with the article had ever met a real Republican woman.
&#8220;For our latest cover story, @rtraister reports on the surprising evolution of the Republican woman — their wrath, sweetness, strength, and subservience to the MAGA right, observed,&#8221; the outlet teased the piece, titled &#8220;Are Republican Women OK?&#8221; in a post on X.
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For our latest cover story, <a href="https://twitter.com/rtraister?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rtraister</a> reports on the surprising evolution of the Republican woman — their wrath, sweetness, strength, and subservience to the MAGA right, observed. <a href="https://t.co/QQCvJPVQSh">https://t.co/QQCvJPVQSh</a> <a href="https://t.co/BNzvq7CjZo">pic.twitter.com/BNzvq7CjZo</a>
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYMag/status/1802628022471684459?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Do you know any Republican women?&#8221; Christina Pushaw, a senior analyst for Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, asked. &#8220;I mean in your family or circles of friends? Because it seems like you are lazy and narrow-minded enough to form strong opinions about all of us based on a few politicians and media personalities.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Do you know any Republican women? I mean in your family or circles of friends? Because it seems like you are lazy and narrow-minded enough to form strong opinions about all of us based on a few politicians and media personalities.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChristinaPushaw/status/1803050093714547104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Kind of interesting how the term &#8216;birthing people&#8217; suddenly disappears when they need to use the word woman as political wedge insult. This should be an ad,&#8221; conservative pundit Stephen Miller commented.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Kind of interesting how the term &#8220;birthing people&#8221; suddenly disappears when they need to use the word woman as political wedge insult.
This should be an ad. <a href="https://t.co/8lwimQ8wMd">https://t.co/8lwimQ8wMd</a> <a href="https://t.co/l5FUtrKhwh">pic.twitter.com/l5FUtrKhwh</a>
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1802949924998226361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro shared a photo of trans-identifying Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine, adding, &#8220;On the other hand, here is a Democratic woman.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
On the other hand, here is a Democratic woman <a href="https://t.co/YqGAoei568">https://t.co/YqGAoei568</a> <a href="https://t.co/pvuVHRMmyP">pic.twitter.com/pvuVHRMmyP</a>
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1802937307999125605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The liberal women rocking back and forth in the corner in tears because a stranger won’t wear a mask and Ron DeSantis won’t make the bridges rainbow, want to know if Republican women are okay,&#8221; another posted.
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The liberal women rocking back and forth in the corner in tears because a stranger won’t wear a mask and Ron DeSantis won’t make the bridges rainbow, want to know if Republican women are okay. <a href="https://t.co/pl29cTj9uk">https://t.co/pl29cTj9uk</a>
— Sunny (@sunnyright) <a href="https://twitter.com/sunnyright/status/1803031975436947761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I can’t express enough how bullshit stereotyping/generalizing Republican women helps Trump. Because we’re all just &#8216;bad&#8217; so what does it matter? This is just gross &amp; reductive. Also are democrat women ok? Because I could teach a seminar on that if we’re all gonna do this,&#8221; writer Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), posted.
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I can’t express enough how bullshit stereotyping/generalizing Republican women helps Trump. Because we’re all just “bad” so what does it matter?
This is just gross &amp; reductive.
Also are democrat women ok? Because I could teach a seminar on that if we’re all gonna do this. <a href="https://t.co/phuLxCkpnj">https://t.co/phuLxCkpnj</a>
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1802723510768275838?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;NY Mag outdoes itself with the ridiculous tropes,&#8221; radio personality Julie Gunlock said. &#8220;The dismemberment isn&#8217;t just cover art. Libs are Silence of the Lambs&#8217; buffalo bill-level obsessed with and baffled by conservative women. So they dehumanize us and reduce us to these silly stereotypes.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NY Mag outdoes itself with the ridiculous tropes. The dismemberment isn&#8217;t just cover art. Libs are Silence of the Lambs&#8217; buffalo bill-level obsessed with and baffled by conservative women. So they dehumanize us and reduce us to these silly stereotypes. <a href="https://t.co/aMfBBYOtRM">https://t.co/aMfBBYOtRM</a>
— Julie Gunlock (@JGunlock) <a href="https://twitter.com/JGunlock/status/1803008890998558800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I’d say the party where the elite female public officials answer the question &#8216;what is a woman?&#8217; with &#8216;I’m not a biologist&#8217; have much bigger problems,&#8221; Mark Hemingway, senior writer at Real Clear Investigations, concluded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’d say the party where the elite female public officials answer the question “what is a woman?” with “I’m not a biologist” have much bigger problems. <a href="https://t.co/f4OwVzyaWt">https://t.co/f4OwVzyaWt</a>
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) <a href="https://twitter.com/Heminator/status/1802915922014769378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
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waving flag, us republican party elephant emblem, background, 3d illustration

New York Mag Dragged For Cover Story Mocking Republican Women

Republican Women

New York Magazine was slammed on Monday after it ran a cover story arguing that children should have the freedom to “change their sex” through irreversible and life-altering medical procedures. 
The <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trans-rights-biological-sex-gender-judith-butler.html#:~:text=We%20must%20be%20prepared%20to,of%20people%20already%20believe%20it." target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a>, written by Andrea Long Chu, a man who identifies as a woman, argues that the “freedom of sex” should be expanded to children quickly drawing criticism from commentators pointing to the harmful impacts of transgender procedures on children. For example, putting children on things like puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can permanently impact their fertility, stunt bone development, and cause heart issues among other health problems. Genital surgeries and procedures to remove healthy breasts from girls who identify as boys also have irreversible impacts. 
“We must be prepared to defend the idea that, in principle, everyone should have access to sex-changing medical care, regardless of age, gender identity, social environment, or psychiatric history,” Chu wrote. “This may strike you as a vertiginous task. The good news is that millions of people already believe it.”
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/NYMag?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYMag</a>&#39;s latest cover story is an essay by critic Andrea Long Chu, who makes the moral case for the right of anybody, at any age, to change their sex. <a href="https://t.co/Wxqds2ugj0">pic.twitter.com/Wxqds2ugj0</a>
&mdash; New York Magazine Communications (@nymagPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/nymagPR/status/1767159617212051568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Elsewhere in the article, Chu said that it doesn’t matter where some children get the desire to identify as transgender comes from. Many commentators have pointed to peer pressure and social media influence to explain part of the explosion in children who claim to be transgender.
“We will never be able to defend the rights of transgender kids until we understand them purely on their own terms: as full members of society who would like to change their sex. It does not matter where this desire comes from,” Chu wrote. 
The article comes after a think tank called Environmental Progress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-secret-history-of-wpath-the-perverse-cult-that-pushed-gender-madness-into-the-mainstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leaked files</a> from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health showing that doctors in the organization believe a 16-year-old girl may have developed liver tumors after being put on male hormones and that many recognize that children cannot give informed consent to transgender procedures.
Throughout the story, Chu also downplayed concerns about men entering women’s bathrooms, harming women during sports competitions, and parental influence over their children’s medical decisions. 
“The TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] does not, after all, fear being assaulted by a Y chromosome in a women’s restroom,” he wrote. “Her paranoid fantasy is of a large testosterone-fueled body wielding a penis — an organ to which, as Butler points out, the TERF attributes almost magical powers of violence.”
Chu also claimed that it was a “fantastical idea” that males would perform better than females in sports competitions and that sex-segregated sports were meant to propagate “inequity.” 
“Widespread discomfort at the largely fantastical idea that trans girls will always dominate in their chosen sports reflects a basic patriarchal belief that the physical advantages of being male are perfectly acceptable so long as they are possessed by men. (In this sense, sex division in sport is meant to enshrine inequality, not to mitigate it.),” Chu wrote. 
Chue said that everyone, including children, should have the “right to change one’s biological gender.”
“What does this freedom look like in practice? Let anyone change their sex,” Chu said. “Let anyone change their gender. Let anyone change their sex again. Let trans girls play sports, regardless of their sex status. If they excel, this means only that some girls are better at sports than others. Let people use the gender-segregated facilities of their choice; desegregate whenever possible. Do not out children to their parents.”
Conservative commentators slammed the article saying that it was irresponsible and that it was impossible to change one&#8217;s sex. 
“You disgusting sadists,” Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro said. 
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You disgusting sadists <a href="https://t.co/602fMYMsQn">https://t.co/602fMYMsQn</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1767197099249025437?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“What&#8217;s that line liberals always trot out about &#8216;when they tell you who they are, believe them&#8217;? They want to manipulate and surgically mutilate kids. This is evil, and I&#8217;m not going to even entertain the idea there&#8217;s nuance here,” Real Clear Investigations writer Mark Hemingway said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
What&#39;s that line liberals always trot out about &quot;when they tell you who they are, believe them&quot;? They want to manipulate and surgically mutilate kids. This is evil, and I&#39;m not going to even entertain the idea there&#39;s nuance here. <a href="https://t.co/1JwJAvX1fx">https://t.co/1JwJAvX1fx</a>
&mdash; Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) <a href="https://twitter.com/Heminator/status/1767192305474146408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The bad news is that no one, regardless of their age, CAN actually change sex. The destruction to children’s bodies is very real, the delusional pursuit of actually changing sex is not,” Inez Stepman said. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The bad news is that no one, regardless of their age, CAN actually change sex. The destruction to children’s bodies is very real, the delusional pursuit of actually changing sex is not. <a href="https://t.co/93tbkkf9um">https://t.co/93tbkkf9um</a>
&mdash; Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) <a href="https://twitter.com/InezFeltscher/status/1767222292847685962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
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NHS Healthcare Organisation Looks To The Future

‘Disgusting’: New York Magazine Slammed After Claiming That Children Should Have The ‘Freedom’ To ‘Change Their Sex’

Transgender

Transgender Athletes

transgender surgery

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas triggered laughs from his audience when he uttered a terse statement regarding the way those in the media do their job.
Thomas spoke at the Old Parkland Conference in Dallas, Texas, last Friday.
Prior to the remark that triggered laughter, Thomas was asked about a statement from then-Missouri GOP Senator John Danforth, who said regarding the way Thomas had been treated at his nomination for the Court, “If we ever get a chance to do to that side what they have done to us we should never do it.”
“And we have never done it,” Thomas said of conservatives’ treatments of Supreme Court nominees. “You would never visit Supreme Court justices’ houses when things didn’t go our way; you wouldn’t throw temper tantrums.”
“It is incumbent on us to always act appropriately and not to repay tit-for-tat,” he contended. “And I have to thank all the people, the regular people &#8230; the regular people showed up. It was always us against the elites. And that’s the way it has been for the last 40-plus years I’ve been in public life: us against the elites.”
“And one of the things you will see in my opinions is I never go after anybody personally,” he stated. “There’s nothing insulting in there; it goes after the argument. But you’re right: we are to conduct ourselves better than they conduct themselves.”
Then came the remark eliciting laughter. Thomas quipped, “One of the things I say in response to the media is when they talk about, especially early on, is about the way I did my job. I said, ‘&#8221;I will absolutely leave the Court when I do my job as poorly as you do yours.’”
“And that was meant as a compliment, really. It really is good to be me; it really is,” he laughed.
Some recent examples of the media attacking Thomas include <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/opinion/clarence-thomas-supreme-court.html">The New York Times</a> writing that he and other conservatives SCOTUS justices have been “whining about public outrage at their rulings,” <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/05/clarence-thomas-decries-irreparable-damage-of-roe-leak.html">New York Magazine</a> claiming Thomas “was credibly accused of sexual harassment by former colleague <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/09/anita-hill-clarence-thomas-joe-biden.html">Anita Hill</a> during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1991,” and The Washington Post sniping that Thomas was “the black justice whose rulings often resemble the thinking of white conservatives.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is the most disgusting thing I can remember seeing in a newspaper in sometime. 
The Washington Post and <a href="https://twitter.com/MariannaReports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MariannaReports</a> should apologize. 
Unbelievable<a href="https://t.co/WTL8SPe9nG">https://t.co/WTL8SPe9nG</a> <a href="https://t.co/SMke8Iu8vk">pic.twitter.com/SMke8Iu8vk</a>
&mdash; Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) <a href="https://twitter.com/ComfortablySmug/status/1494328827455045634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Justice Thomas to the media:
&quot;I will absolutely leave the Court when I do my job as poorly as you do yours.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/2V7h9vtoLt">pic.twitter.com/2V7h9vtoLt</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1526215424874008576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Danforth was Thomas’ great champion during the confirmation hearings. He <a href="https://www.emkinstitute.org/resources/john-danforth-oral-history">recalled</a> years later that Thomas was “terribly upset” about the vicious attacks leveled at him and told Danforth, “You know what this is, Jack? This is a lynching. This is a high-tech lynching.”
Danforth replied, “Well, Clarence, if you feel that way about it, when you go up to the committee, you say that.”
He added, “The Thomas thing was sui generis and it was just a totally out of the blue, grotesque thing. It was really bad. And to know somebody as well as I know Clarence, and know what it did to him and to see it.”

Justice Thomas Attends Forum On His 30 Year Supreme Court Legacy

Clarence Thomas Triggers Laughs With One Sentence Targeting The Media

Clarence Thomas Tells Audience About Line He Uses Targeting Media

Clarence Thomas

New York Times

Washington Post

On Tuesday, Andrew Sullivan <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/sullydish/status/1283100440683479043">announced</a> his resignation from New York Magazine.
“This will be my last week at New York Magazine,” Sullivan <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/sullydish/status/1283100440683479043">tweeted</a>. “I’m sad because the editors I worked with there are among the finest in the country, and I am immensely grateful to them for vastly improving my work. I’m also proud of the essays and columns I wrote at NYM – some of which will be published in a collection of my writing scheduled for next year.”
Sullivan noted in subsequent tweets that he has “no beef” with his “colleagues, many of whom I admire and are friends,” and that “the underlying reasons for the split are pretty self-evident, and I’ll be discussing the broader questions involved in my last column this Friday.”
On Friday, Sullivan’s <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/andrew-sullivan-see-you-next-friday.html">column</a> went live.
“The good news is that my last column in this space is not about ‘cancel culture.’ Well, almost,” Sullivan writes before noting that NYMag has “every right to hire and fire anyone it wants when it comes to the content of what it wants to publish.”
He continues, praising some of the “wonderful” people with whom he’s interacted at the publication. That said, Sullivan offers the reason he believes he was no longer a fit at NYMag:
<blockquote>A critical mass of the staff and management at New York Magazine and Vox Media no longer want to associate with me, and, in a time of ever tightening budgets, I’m a luxury item they don’t want to afford. And that’s entirely their prerogative. They seem to believe, and this is increasingly the orthodoxy in mainstream media, that any writer not actively committed to <a href="https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-critical-theory/">critical theory</a> in questions of race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity is actively, physically harming co-workers merely by existing in the same virtual space. Actually <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/andrew-sullivan-you-say-you-want-a-revolution.html">attacking</a>, and even <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/02/we-all-live-on-campus-now.html">mocking</a>, critical theory’s ideas and methods, as I have done <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/03/is-intersectionality-a-religion.html">continually</a> in <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/andrew-sullivan-is-there-still-room-for-debate.html">this space</a>, is therefore out of sync with the values of Vox Media. That, to the best of my understanding, is why I’m out of here.</blockquote>
Sullivan continues, seemingly comparing the dearth of ideological diversity in the mainstream news media to that of academia. He also notes that his brand of conservatism includes many positions with which mainstream conservatives would disagree – including the legalization of drugs, and support for same-sex marriage, among other things.
Sullivan even states that he “opposes” Trump and plans to cast his vote for Joe Biden on November 3.
“It seems to me that if this conservatism is so foul that many of my peers are embarrassed to be working at the same magazine, then I have no idea what version of conservatism could ever be tolerated,” writes Sullivan.
He adds that he’s okay with that severance as he supports freedom of association, adding that the internet has largely swept away the old “gatekeepers” that once stood in the way of broad ideological dissent in the media.
After telling readers about his new venture, Sullivan sounds the alarm, writing that it’s up to the “non-mainstream” press to “pick up the slack” if the mainstream media rejects ideological diversity, places agenda above objective reporting, and views journalists as one-dimensional characters defined by certain immutable characteristics.
“Instead of merely diagnosing the problem of illiberalism, I want to try to be part of the solution,” Sullivan states.
Andrew Sullivan’s resignation comes on the heels of the resignation of another prominent journalist.
On Monday, New York Times opinion writer and editor Bari Weiss resigned, offering a lengthy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gadfly-bari-weiss-quits-new-york-times-savages-them-if-you-speak-your-mind-youll-be-hung-out-to-dry">explanation as to why</a> on her personal website.
Weiss slammed the Times as a paper beholden to the social media mob:
<blockquote>Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.</blockquote>
Weiss also alleges that she was bullied and maligned by her colleagues at the paper for her “wrongthink,” a seeming nod to the Thought Police in George Orwell’s “1984.”
“Part of me wishes I could say that my experience was unique. But the truth is that intellectual curiosity—let alone risk-taking—is now a liability at The Times,” she adds.
The resignations by both Sullivan and Weiss come amid escalating discussion pertaining to freedom of expression. On July 7, Harper’s Magazine published an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jk-rowling-over-100-others-sign-letter-condemning-cancel-culture-one-caves-apologizes-rowling-responds">open letter</a> condemning cancel culture.
The letter, which was signed by more than 150 public figures, including Malcolm Gladwell, J.K. Rowling, Kmele Foster, Jonathan Haidt, Steven Pinker, and many others, received significant backlash. Following the outcry, “two of the dozens upon dozens of academics, writers, and artists who originally signed the letter &#8230; distanced themselves from it, and one has apologized,” The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jk-rowling-over-100-others-sign-letter-condemning-cancel-culture-one-caves-apologizes-rowling-responds">reported</a>.
After The New York Times’ Jennifer Finney Boylan apologized for signing the letter, saying she wasn’t aware of “who else had signed” it, author J.K. Rowling called her out, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jk-rowling-over-100-others-sign-letter-condemning-cancel-culture-one-caves-apologizes-rowling-responds">tweeting</a>: “You’re still following me, Jennifer. Be sure to publicly repent of your association with Goody Rowling before unfollowing and volunteer to operate the ducking stool next time, as penance.”
Rowling has been the target of an ongoing cancel campaign after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rowling-pens-essay-defending-herself-against-trans-blowback-i-refuse-to-bow-down">refusing to back down</a> from her beliefs surrounding certain transgender issues, and the ways in which the transgender movement has impacted women.
Rowling’s position has caused several actors from the “Harry Potter” film franchises to publicly distance themselves from Rowling.
Eddie Redmayne, who plays Newt Scamander in the “Fantastic Beasts” film series, told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daniel-radcliffe-eddie-redmayne-denounce-j-k-rowlings-transgender-stance">Variety</a>: “As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo’s comments.”
Daniel Radcliffe made similar remarks, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daniel-radcliffe-eddie-redmayne-denounce-j-k-rowlings-transgender-stance">stating in part</a>: “To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you.”
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rowling-pens-essay-defending-herself-against-trans-blowback-i-refuse-to-bow-down">Rowling Pens Essay Defending Herself Against ‘Trans’ Blowback: ‘I Refuse To Bow Down’</a>
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/publishing-staff-threatens-to-strike-if-company-keeps-j-k-rowlings-book">Publishing Staff Threatens To Strike If Company Keeps J.K. Rowling’s Book</a>

Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan Leaves NYMag, Criticizes A Certain ‘Orthodoxy In Mainstream Media’

Cancel Culture

Media Bias

On Tuesday, Andrew Sullivan, a former editor of the New Republic and currently a writer-at-large for New York Magazine, announced he will leave the magazine at the end of this week.
Sullivan issued a <a href="https://twitter.com/sullydish/status/1283100444865290240">Twitter thread</a> in which he wrote:
<blockquote>This will be my last week at New York Magazine. I’m sad because the editors I worked with there are among the finest in the country, and I am immensely grateful to them for vastly improving my work. I’m also proud of the essays and columns I wrote at NYM &#8211; some of which will be published in a collection of my writing scheduled for next year. The underlying reasons for the split are pretty self-evident, and I’ll be discussing the broader questions involved in my last column this Friday. I&#8217;ve been preparing for this eventuality, and the column will continue elsewhere. See you on Friday, when I&#8217;ll detail some exciting news.</blockquote>
On Tuesday, noting Bari Weiss’ <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gadfly-bari-weiss-quits-new-york-times-savages-them-if-you-speak-your-mind-youll-be-hung-out-to-dry">blistering resignation letter</a> to New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger in which she delineated the hostile environment she had to endure at the Times, Sullivan tweeted, “The mob bullied and harassed a young woman for thoughtcrimes. And her editors stood by and watched.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The mob bullied and harassed a young woman for thoughtcrimes. And her editors stood by and watched. <a href="https://t.co/P4cNBvpgI4">https://t.co/P4cNBvpgI4</a>
&mdash; Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) <a href="https://twitter.com/sullydish/status/1283091489904459776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In mid-June, Sullivan published a <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/andrew-sullivan-is-there-still-room-for-debate.html">column</a> in which he disputed the current narrative that believes, as Sullivan wrote, “America is systemically racist, and a white-supremacist project from the start.” Sullivan, who was born in the United Kingdom but later became an American citizen, countered, “There is truth in it, truth that it’s incumbent on us to understand more deeply and empathize with more thoroughly. But there is also an awful amount of truth it ignores or elides or simply denies. It sees America as in its essence not about freedom but oppression. It argues, in fact, that all the ideals about individual liberty, religious freedom, limited government, and the equality of all human beings were always a falsehood to cover for and justify and entrench the enslavement of human beings under the fiction of race.”
Sullivan continued, “This view of the world certainly has ‘moral clarity.’ What it lacks is moral complexity. No country can be so reduced to one single prism and damned because of it. American society has far more complexity and history has far more contingency than can be jammed into this rubric … a country that actively seeks immigrants who are now 82 percent nonwhite is not primarily defined by white supremacy… Nor is a country where nonwhite immigrants are fast <a href="https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2019/10/income-and-wealth-in-the-united-states-an-overview-of-data">catching up</a> with whites in income and where some minority groups<a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2018/demo/p60-263/figure1.pdf"> now outearn</a> whites.”
He concluded:
<blockquote>“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values,” President Kennedy once said. “For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” Let’s keep that market open. Let’s not be intimidated by those who want it closed.</blockquote>
New York Magazine editor-in-chief David Haskell responded to Sullivan’s news by claiming he and Sullivan agreed that Sullivan was not “the right match” for the magazine. Haskell stated, “I will continue to push us to publish work that challenges the liberal assumptions of much of our readership. But publishing conservative commentary, or critiques of liberalism and the left, is difficult to get right, and thoughtful, well-meaning people can come to different conclusions about it …”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NY Mag Editor-In-Chief David Haskell emails staff about <a href="https://twitter.com/sullydish?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sullydish</a>&#39;s departure. <a href="https://t.co/gOBjT8LShM">pic.twitter.com/gOBjT8LShM</a>
&mdash; Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) <a href="https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1283116719591038978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Andrew Sullivan, Former Editor Of The New Republic

Andrew Sullivan Announces He’s Quitting New York Magazine

Bari Weiss

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he was running for president on May 16. He must have done some focus-group testing to show that he had a chance at the Democratic nomination, but people in his own state &#8212; in the city where he is mayor, even &#8212; don&#8217;t seem to think he would be a good president.
Shortly after he announced, MSNBC posted <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/watch/watch-new-yorkers-rip-mayor-de-blasio-after-2020-announcement-59732037605">a video</a> of New York City residents bashing their mayor. Now comes New York Magazine&#8217;s Eve Peyser, who tried to find someone, anyone, <a href="http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/i-tried-to-find-a-new-yorker-who-wants-president-de-blasio.html">who supported him for president</a>.
Peyser started by casting a wide net. She posted on Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter asking for anyone who supported de Blasio for president. As she wrote, this was an &#8220;admittedly lazy journalistic practice,&#8221; but had yielded results in the past, including someone who tattooed Chelsea Clinton&#8217;s face on his body (yes, Chelsea).
Peyser wrote that she received just one response, from a man in Prospect Heights who said he was &#8220;neither for nor against Mayor de Blasio&#8217;s run.&#8221;
Peyser then asked her own mother, a diehard liberal who had voted for de Blasio for mayor. This woman no longer supported the mayor after seeing him speak each week on WNYC&#8217;s &#8220;The Brian Lehrer Show.&#8221;
&#8220;Whenever he&#8217;s challenged, he responds with indignation and an underlying hostility that seems designed to intimidate the person asking him,&#8221; Peyser&#8217;s mother told her. &#8220;He&#8217;s a bully.&#8221;
None of her mother&#8217;s friends supported the mayor for president either.
Peyser decided to see if the people at the gym where de Blasio works out would support him. Again, she came up empty. One man said de Blasio was &#8220;the worst mayor we&#8217;ve ever had.&#8221; A few others said they like him as a mayor and didn&#8217;t want him to give up his term to be president &#8212; or didn&#8217;t think he&#8217;d be a good president.
Peyser&#8217;s last-ditch effort was to contact the mayor&#8217;s presidential campaign and ask for names of supporters. The campaign provided two (obviously, that doesn&#8217;t mean those are the only two people the campaign knows who support de Blasio).
Farah Despeignes, one of the two names provided by the campaign, told Peyser she supported de Blasio because of his willingness to discuss &#8220;taboo&#8221; subjects, such as his &#8220;commitment to challenge the educational system.&#8221;
The other name provided was Alain Berrouet, who works for the NYC Department of Education and was featured in the mayor&#8217;s campaign video. He supported the mayor because de Blasio took the time to talk to him about his policies after a campaign event. Despeignes, like Berrouet, also said she supported de Blasio because he took the time to talk to her and was willing to listen.
As Peyser concluded, &#8220;Two down, Mr. Mayor. Only tens of millions more to go. You have a lot of chatting-up to do.&#8221;
De Blasio is currently polling at <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html">an average 0.5%</a>, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average. A <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2622">Quinnipiac University poll</a> released on May 21 showed de Blasio has the worst favorability rating of any of the other Democratic candidates, with just 8% seeing him favorably and 45% saying they had an unfavorable view of him.

New York Magazine Struggles To Find A Single New Yorker Who Wants De Blasio To Be President

Bill de Blasio

In his interview with New York Magazine, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio offered some insight into his views and his tenure as mayor of the largest city in the United States. The interview, which seemed like an attempt to mitigate the mounting concerns about de Blasio&#8217;s <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/16525/two-thirds-bundlers-new-york-mayor-bill-de-blasio-elliott-hamilton">corruption</a> and his constant <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/18356/nyc-mayor-de-blasio-flies-germany-join-anti-joseph-curl">virtue-signaling</a>, shed some light on one of his biggest pet peeves: private property.
When asked by Chris Smith about his fight to reduce income inequality and where it was hard to make progress, he said the following:
<blockquote>
What&#8217;s been hardest is the way our legal system is structured to favor private property. I think people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be. I think there&#8217;s a socialistic impulse, which I hear every day, in every kind of community, that they would like things to be planned in accordance to their needs. And I would, too. Unfortunately, what stands in the way of that is hundreds of years of history that have elevated property rights and wealth to the point that that&#8217;s the reality that calls the tune on a lot of development.
</blockquote>
In other words, he slammed the concept of private property in order to pursue the Communistic dream of government planning &#8220;according to everyone&#8217;s needs.&#8221; This quote is attributable to Karl Marx himself, who popularized it in his 1875 <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm">essay</a> &#8220;Critique of the Gotha Program.&#8221; Marx&#8217;s entire quote is as follows:
<blockquote>
In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life&#8217;s prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly&#8212;only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!
</blockquote>
Notice some similarities?
Marx&#8217;s umbrage with private property is centered around the belief that it opens the door to exploitation and taking away various opportunities from others who cannot afford to acquire it. The solution, therefore, is to abolish private property and to have the government allot parcels of property according to the abilities and needs of the collective. This deliberately contrasts the Lockean view of private property as being a hallmark of freedom. Locke explores this in <a href="http://www.constitution.org/jl/2ndtr05.htm">Chapter V</a> of &#8220;The Second Treatise of Government&#8221;:
<blockquote>
God, who hath given the world to men in common, hath also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life, and convenience. The earth, and all that is therein, is given to men for the support and comfort of their being. And tho&#8217; all the fruits it naturally produces, and beasts it feeds, belong to mankind in common, as they are produced by the spontaneous hand of nature; and no body has originally a private dominion, exclusive of the rest of mankind, in any of them, as they are thus in their natural state: yet being given for the use of men, there must of necessity be a means to appropriate them some way or other, before they can be of any use, or at all beneficial to any particular man. The fruit, or venison, which nourishes the wild Indian, who knows no enclosure, and is still a tenant in common, must be his, and so his, i.e. a part of him, that another can no longer have any right to it, before it can do him any good for the support of his life.
Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state nature hath placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other men: for this labour being the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough, and as good, left in common for others.
</blockquote>
As Locke eloquently points out, private property is the extension of the individual self. By removing the ability for one to own their own property, it takes away their freedom. This concept of freedom is one of the foundations of the <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fifth_amendment">Fifth Amendment</a>&#8216;s Takings Clause as well as its Due Process Clause:
<blockquote>
&#8230; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
</blockquote>
Bill de Blasio&#8217;s belief that income inequality cannot be achieved in part due to the existence of private property is a direct assault on one of the fundamental freedoms that the United States of America was founded upon. The Constitution laid out a plan for a government limited in scope whose structure intended to protect the individual liberty to own private property.
Rather than championing policies that create better incentives to increase private property ownership, the Democratic Party and de Blasio, specifically, seem more adamant on wanting to limit the ability for developers and individuals to own private property when it does not suit their political agendas.
In summation, de Blasio appears to have turned full Communist and exposed his true colors.
It is important to note that issues surrounding private property are not solely propagated by the Left. President Trump and his camp have occasionally skewered the concept. During the primaries, Trump expressed a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/08/19/donald-trumps-abuse-of-eminent-domain/?utm_term=.3affb3c39bfe">problematic view</a> of eminent domain, and one of the main issues with his notorious &#8220;border wall&#8221; is whether he would need to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/03/05/potential-pitfalls-of-building-trumps-great-wall-of-eminent-domain/?utm_term=.f742cf2aa550">impose eminent domain</a> in order to make it a reality.
When push comes to shove, it is incumbent on conservatives to call a spade a spade on issues of private property and to proclaim that in the presence of complicated policy choices, it remains prudent to remain on the side of freedom.
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NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Goes Full Communist, Chastises Private Property

Communism

Marxism

New York City

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