Author: Mandy Matthews

New York City’s new mayor confronts a large budget gap that will force choices affecting services, safety, and taxpayers, and conservative voices are pushing for fiscal discipline and clearer priorities. New York City’s freshly sworn-in mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has inherited a significant fiscal puzzle, and it already sounds like a test of priorities. Officials are flagging a sizable budget shortfall that will require decisions about spending, revenue, and what gets cut. For residents who pay attention, this is a moment that reveals what the new administration values. From a conservative perspective, the immediate reaction is simple: balance the books without…

The Obama Presidential Center’s 225-foot museum tower has sparked ridicule because lines from a Barack Obama speech are almost unreadable from the ground, turning what was meant to be a dignified inscription into a visual mess that critics and locals are talking about. The project has been years late, sits on a 20-acre campus on Chicago’s South Side, and opens in June amid debate over design choices and neighborhood impact. Reactions online range from wry mockery to serious concerns about gentrification and whether the monument serves the people it claims to honor. The tower’s inscription problem is striking because it…

This piece looks at how Democratic judicial appointments and court actions are shaping legal fights around Donald Trump and his supporters, examining the political and legal consequences from a straightforward conservative perspective. As admitted by Toobin, Democrat-appointed judges have become a critical feature of the left’s evolving lawfare against Trump and his voters. That sentence is worth lingering on because it frames how many conservatives now see courtroom fights. The claim points to a pattern where legal strategy and political strategy overlap and where judicial choices matter more than they used to. Calling this phenomenon lawfare is not rhetorical excess,…

Democrats flew to the Munich Security Conference to reassure allies, but their message stumbled while the administration’s team landed the kind of clarity European leaders wanted. Democrats admitted their goal outright, saying “they said it out loud” they were on a reassurance tour to steady transatlantic ties. The plan was to show competence, project stability, and present an alternative vision of U.S. leadership. Instead, the appearances often raised more questions than confidence. The conference itself is a high-stakes forum where global officials test each other’s credibility in real time. The Munich Security Conference draws more than 200 senior officials from…

Erin Hawley, a central strategist behind the legal case that helped overrule Roe v. Wade, is joining Lex Politica to lead its Supreme Court and appellate work, signaling a sharpened conservative push at the highest levels of the judiciary. Erin Hawley’s move to Lex Politica is more than a lateral career step; it’s a strategic escalation. A key member of the legal team that convinced the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade, she brings courtroom experience and a record of high-stakes appellate wins. That background gives her credibility when courts and conservative clients need a steady, experienced hand on…

U.S.-Iran talks resume Feb. 17 in Geneva after an initial session on Feb. 6 in Muscat, with Oman mediating and Iran’s delegation again led by Abbas Araghchi. The United States and Iran are returning to the negotiating table on Feb. 17 in Geneva, Switzerland, for a second round of indirect talks. The first round took place on Feb. 6 in Muscat, where Omani officials served as intermediaries and helped arrange the initial exchange. These sessions are cautious and controlled, with both sides keeping distance while testing what can be achieved through intermediaries. Iran’s delegation will once again be led by…

A DEA supervisor in the Dominican Republic was arrested amid a federal probe into misuse of a visa program for confidential informants, prompting the U.S. embassy to close the DEA office and raising fresh questions about oversight after a watchdog previously found hundreds of sponsored individuals unaccounted for. A supervisor at the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dominican Republic office was taken into custody in a probe into alleged abuse of a U.S. visa program that admits foreign nationals as confidential informants. Melitón Cordero is the named official; the Department of Homeland Security led the operation and the U.S. embassy shut the…

American athletes who treat the Olympic stage like a personal protest platform weaken the respect people have for our flag, for competition, and for service; this piece argues that representing the United States on the world stage carries duties and accountability, and that fans and institutions should expect those duties to be honored. We should call out behavior that turns a team event into a political showcase and question whether hostile gestures belong on an Olympic podium. The Olympics are one of the few places where athletes officially represent their nation, and that status matters to millions who pay, cheer,…

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s high-profile “rental ripoff” hearings will focus on private landlords while New York City Housing Authority residents are largely excluded from testifying, sparking criticism that the administration is avoiding scrutiny of its own role as the city’s largest landlord. City officials set the hearings to begin Feb. 26 and plan to hear from renters and owners of privately held buildings, explicitly leaving out testimony from more than 500,000 tenants who live in NYCHA public housing. The decision has prompted outcry because NYCHA is the single largest landlord in the city and manages housing that federal monitors have repeatedly…

Many reliably red towns discover their schools no longer mirror local values, and parents are confronting how curriculum, policy, and personnel choices drifted from what they expected. People in conservative communities have long assumed local schools would reflect the beliefs and priorities of their neighbors. That expectation is breaking down as parents find classes, programs, and district decisions that feel foreign to the community. The gap between local values and classroom content is forcing tough conversations over control, transparency, and purpose. Parents are reporting lessons and materials that emphasize perspectives at odds with traditional views on history, family, and personal…