To close out the week, we're getting a much clearer picture of the power bill crisis financially battering working-poor and middle-class households, as well as mom-and-pop businesses - and it's about to get a whole lot worse.
Monthly bills are set to spike even higher, and the political fallout could be brutal for Democrats who championed everything 'green' - retiring stable fossil fuel power generation in favor of unreliable wind and solar. This epic failure guarantees voters a monthly reminder of just how disastrous these policies have become across Maryland and New Jersey (soon, many other states) every time they open their power statement.
On Thursday, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright joined conservative commentator Glenn Beck in a discussion about all things energy, especially the emerging power bill crisis that will soon become a national topic in the era of faltering green policies colliding with surging power demand from AI data centers.
The takeaway from Beck and Wright's conversation is that the power bill crisis won't be solved this year and will only worsen.
Here's the conversation:
Beck: When should we see this actually starting to happen and how long before power prices come down?
Wright: Oh, man. That is the big question that President Trump asked me that every single day, let's get oil prices down, let's get gas prices down, let's get electricity prices down. And it takes a while to build infrastructure. Fortunately quickly we can stop the closure of coal plants, but still have lots of lifetime left. We've already done that. That's why we don't have much worse blackouts already today. We do have new gas plants coming on this year, a lot more coming on next year. We'll have nuclear plants on later this term. We'll have a whole bunch of them under construction. But yet to turn the giant aircraft carrier that is the electricity grid, that's going to take a few years. But hopefully we can stop the huge rise in prices. We can build the capacity so the United States can keep our lead on artificial intelligence over China. We get behind China and they control AI, our national security is at risk.
Beck: Yeah, I know.
Wright: So the whole administration is seven days a week working on this effort. You will see dramatically fewer blackouts this summer than you would have had the election gone the other way. And I think we'll be in a little bit better situation next summer, somewhere in between there this winter. We're rapidly swimming the right way. I wish I could say power prices are going down twenty percent next year, but it's simply not possible to do that in twelve months. What I will tell you, President Trump is seven days a week doing everything he can towards that goal.
.@SecretaryWright says President Trump asks him "every single day" when Americans will see lower energy bills: “I wish I could say power prices are going down 20% next year. But it’s simply not possible to do that in 12 months. But Trump is 7 days a week doing everything he can.” pic.twitter.com/BkYzvQoCHq
To recap the week in all things power: The epicenter of America's power crisis appears to be on the PJM Interconnection grid, with the Mid-Atlantic area at ground zero.
In Baltimore, Maryland, on Monday, a single substation outage pushed a grid serving a million people to the brink of collapse, with no spare capacity (thank the Democrats), as the local utility warned of widespread blackouts. The grid was ultimately fixed hours later, but the near collapse raised alarms at the local, state, and national levels over how fragile Maryland's grid has become after years of Democrats retiring fossil fuel power generation in favor of unstable solar and wind.
"Prepare Now": Substation Failure Puts Baltimore At Risk Of "Widespread" Blackout https://t.co/pCbEvuXk7P
Then by Tuesday, a new poll in Maryland showed that among the many things, if that's fisical crisis, taxes, illegal aliens, crime, and whatever else, as well as exploding power bills for millions, Maryland Governor Westley Watende Omari Moore, who is being positioned for the party's 2028 presidential run, experinced sliding poll numbers that have set the Democratic Party into a panic.
Power Bill Crisis Sends Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's Approval Plummeting https://t.co/uQebt96XLa
Earlier this month, Customs and Border Protection recorded fewer than 7,832 illegal border crossings in July. That’s a staggering number when you consider that the 25-year average for that month is 76,000.
Even more staggering is that this should never have happened. At least, not if you believed President Joe “Autopen” Biden.
For four years straight, Biden and his minions told the American public either that the border was secure, or that the problem was impossible to fix due to Republican intransigence, or some combination of the two.
Here, for the record, is a sampling:
March 2021: “It happens every single, solitary year: There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March. That happens every year.” – Joe Biden.
March 2021: “The border is secure, and the border is not open.” – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
June 2021: “The administration has made significant progress at establishing a well-managed and secure border while also treating people fairly and humanely. The American people support this approach.” – White House statement.
Sept. 2021: “The border is secure. We’re executing our plan.” – Mayorkas.
July 2022: “Look, the border is secure. We are working to make the border more secure. That has been a historic challenge.” – Mayorkas.
Jan. 2023: “Our problems at the border didn’t arise overnight and they’re not going to be solved overnight. It’s a difficult problem.” – Biden.
Jan. 2023: “Biden-Harris Administration today is announcing new enforcement measures to increase security at the border and reduce the number of individuals crossing unlawfully.” – White House statement.
Feb 2023: “We now have a record number of personnel working to secure the border.” – Biden.
July 2023: “Our approach to managing the borders securely and humanely, even within our fundamentally broken immigration system, is working.” – Mayorkas.
Feb. 2024: “The only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump.” – Biden.
May 2024: “The president has such limited ability to issue executive orders that would have an impact on the border. He can’t conjure resources out of thin air.” – Sen. Chris Murphy.
June 2024: “Today, I’m moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border.” – Biden.
June 2024: “Over the past three years, while Congress has failed to act, the president has acted to secure our border.” – White House statement.
Sept. 2024: “The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular, over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed.” – Kamala Harris.
Note that the decline in Biden’s last year in office was due in large part to the CBP One App – which let illegals get over the border without being counted as illegal border crossers. More than 800,000 availed themselves of this option from January 2023 through September 2024. Trump immediately shut down this app upon taking office.
Turns out, the only reason the border wasn’t secure was Joe Biden.
The Smithsonian Institution is one of America’s greatest assets.
When Americans visit the nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., they are able to witness their country’s vast array of art, culture, history, and research acumen all in one place, and for free, because of the museums and zoo the institution operates there.
Like the national parks, the Smithsonian is part of America’s cultural inheritance.
But because of its academic and historical nature, the institution, established by an act of Congress that was signed by President James K. Polk in 1846, has always been in a precarious situation where dishonest and destructive actors who have deep disdain for the United States might take over its stewardship.
That appears to be what has happened, particularly under the Biden administration, as museum halls are adorned with gay “pride” flags and exhibits are filled with pseudo-history or history that is framed dishonestly — seemingly in an attempt to degrade the American experience.
That is a far cry from the Smithsonian Institution’s mission: to be “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,” as initial patron James Smithson (after whom the institution is named) said in 1826 when willing his estate ultimately to the United States. Smithson’s donation would over time become the world’s “largest museum, research, and education complex,” boasting 21 museums, a zoo and conservation biology institute, and nine research facilities.
To that end, Trump administration officials — including Lindsey Halligan, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley, and Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought — wrote a Tuesday letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III initiating an internal review of the Smithsonian’s exhibitions and materials.
“It is an honor to work alongside the Smithsonian in reviewing its museums and exhibits, with the shared goal of ensuring this treasured institution reflects the very best America has to offer — accuracy, excellence, and the richness of our shared history. While certain ideological influences have permeated the Smithsonian over time, our goal is for the Smithsonian to be fact-based, scholarly, and historically sound,” Halligan told The Federalist. “The current Smithsonian exhibits are publicly available so everyone can see firsthand what we have observed. We invite the public to form their own judgments and better understand why we believe certain changes are necessary to preserve the integrity of our shared heritage.”
Admission is free to everyone, Smithsonian buildings line the National Mall from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument, and since 1970 they have been visited by between 20 and 30 million people per year, save for some off years.
While two of the notable off years included 2020 and 2021 — when there were protocols related to the coronavirus and the museums only saw three million to five million visitors — visitation has not returned to pre-coronavirus levels, with last year seeing fewer than 17 million visitors.
The phenomenon raises concerns about the broader left-wing project to force Americans to hate their history and their country. Corrosive outgrowths of that project have been seen, perhaps most acutely, at the Smithsonian museums in recent years, and the woke-scolding nature of their exhibits may be an explanation for their dwindling numbers over the course of the Biden administration’s tenure.
The Trump administration’s review will be all-encompassing and phased, starting with eight museums first: American History, Natural History, African American History and Culture, American Indian, Air and Space, National Portrait Gallery, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
All aspects of each museum’s process will be reviewed, including public-facing content, the curation process, planning of exhibitions, how collections are used, and standards for narrative building.
Such a broad review appears to be necessary, as tourists and visitors to the museums in D.C. have offered images and insight to The Federalist detailing the countless examples of the far-left ideological capture of one of our nation’s greatest resources.
Information obtained by The Federalist shows that the Trump administration’s concerns are not unfounded.
Promote Homosexuality, Malign Flag
As the Trump administration works to restore a semblance of reality and prestige to the Smithsonian museums, it makes sense to start a review with the museum dedicated to American history.
At the American History Museum, which is located in the shadow of the Washington Monument, Americans who want to learn about their history must first be bombarded at the front entrance with a “pride-progress” flag.
A ‘pride-progress’ flag greets American History Museum visitors at its Constitution Avenue entrance
Image CreditCourtesy of Tourists and Visitors of the Smithsonian museums
True to form, one of the exhibits argues in favor of “transgender” athletes competing in sports against members of the opposite sex. It questions why anyone would think it necessary to test the sex of athletes before a competition, denying the advantage men have over women because of testosterone and other biological realities like bone density and muscle mass.
“Proponents believe that gender testing prevents transgender athletes and athletes with high testosterone levels from gaining an unfair competitive advantage,” it states. “However, critics argue that gender tests are humiliating and discriminate against athletes who challenge traditional gender norms.”
While visitors are greeted with the LGBT flag at the door, the exhibit about the U.S. flag — the Star-Spangled Banner exhibit — advances left-wing causes as well. On separate slides it shows the flag being used at an “immigrant rights rally” or with LGBT material. Other slides show the flag burning, being used at a Ku Klux Klan rally, or alongside anti-American propaganda.
‘America Is Evil,’ Needs Mass Illegal Immigration
Visitors can also get a preview of the future addition to the Smithsonian network, the National Museum of the American Latino, which is still in its planning stages but will ultimately be situated alongside the others on the National Mall.
“¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States” will be the first exhibit of that museum, yet those interested can look at it now in the American History Museum — but only if they want to be hit with anti-America propaganda.
At the outset, visitors are told to “reflect on the effects of colonization and slavery in the Americas and throughout the world,” which frames the entire exhibit as one where the United States is an evil force for destabilization and imperialism, and Latinos have been bearing the brunt of that burden for all time.
‘!Presente! A Latino History of the United States’
Image CreditCourtesy of Tourists and Visitors of the Smithsonian museums
As writers at The Heritage Foundation put it three years ago, the exhibit is a “hothouse to curate grievances against the United States.”
“The Latino exhibit simply erases the existence of the Hispanic who loves, contributes to, benefits from and exemplifies the promise of American liberty,” they stated. “That is to say, it erases the Hispanic majority.”
The exhibit suggests that the United States stole one-third of Mexico’s landmass in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which recognized the Rio Grande River as the southern border of the U.S. and finalized Texas’ becoming part of the United States.
Stand-alone quote from the American History Museum
Image CreditCourtesy of Tourists and Visitors of the Smithsonian museums
A 2021 quote from artist-activist Judy Baca on a pillar in the exhibit states, “We didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us.”
The Texas Revolution, according to the exhibit, was actually a massive defense of slavery waged by “white Anglo Saxon” settlers against anti-slavery Mexicans fighting for freedom, not a Texan war of independence from Mexico.
It also pushes the idea that Cuban immigration had nothing to do with escaping Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, but was rather a movement motivated by economic considerations.
The exhibit strains to connect other left-wing ideologies to the narrative, including leftist propaganda on labor, education, housing, immigration, justice reform, and “LGBT rights,” while discounting American sovereignty.
America has utilized Western capitalism to oppress minorities, the planet, and the Global South, according to the exhibit, which therefore concludes that all the “oppressed” intersectional groups that allegedly exist in Latin America have been fighting for “global justice” against a domineering United States.
To that end, the museum uniformly presents indigenous populations positively or as victims, without qualifications about violence, child sacrifice, or other behavior.
The exhibit remarkably leaves out mentions of the abuses of left-wing dictators like Fidel Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, while making sure to show how the United States backed right-wing dictators like Fulgencio Batista of Cuba and Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic.
Immigration is yet another area where each story told is aimed at advancing the open borders narrative, completely discounting national sovereignty and suggesting that controlled immigration is a human rights abuse.
To further that narrative, the exhibit depicts migrants looking at Independence Day fireworks “through an opening in the U.S.-Mexico border wall,” and a description to the side of it called “Fear and Prejudice” quickly maligns Benjamin Franklin and essentially all founding-era leaders as having “feared non-White immigration.”
‘Fear and Prejudice’ section
Image CreditCourtesy of Tourists and Visitors of the Smithsonian museums
“Instead of being recognized as community builders, Latin American immigrants are sometimes described as ‘invaders,’” it states. “Many have risked their lives to immigrate because they believe in U.S. ideals such as democracy, equality, and opportunity.”
It makes no mention of the violent gangs and individuals committing crimes against Americans, their drugs that kill countless American people, or their economic effect in taking jobs and upending the lives of American citizens.
‘Profound Unsettling of Continent’
The founding of America, from the colonial era through the revolution, was not a historic triumph of liberty, the American History Museum insists, but rather a “profound unsettling of the continent.”
“The continent’s population actually declined in this period as Old World diseases swept through Native populations that lacked immunity. Beyond that profound tragedy there would be new conflicts, new forms of freedom, new forms of slavery, and new ways of living together,” the exhibit states. “Our world today grows out of that unsettling history.”
Explicit Attacks on Franklin
A visitor to the American History Museum cannot get two sentences into an exhibit about the scientific works of Benjamin Franklin without being bombarded, at every single turn, with mentions of slavery.
In fact, there is a QR code near the exhibit on the Star-Spangled Banner telling visitors they can find out more about his “electrical experiments and the enslaved people of his household.”
In an apparent attempt to undermine Franklin’s contributions to the American founding and to science, the Smithsonian says that “Franklin’s remarkable scientific accomplishments were enabled by the social and economic system he worked within.”
“Franklin enslaved people, perhaps as many as seven. Their labor helped to build his fortune,” the exhibit states, while speculating and admitting there is no evidence that the slaves “may have directly assisted his research.”
If one were looking to find out more about Franklin’s research, it would be tough to do in this exhibit which appears to entrap people by promising his scientific history, but then quickly turns into a diatribe about slavery.
“Franklin’s involvement with slavery is complicated. He published anti-slavery articles in his newspaper while also profiting from the sale of enslaved people and printed notices seeking the capture of escapees,” the exhibit states. “Later in life he took an overt stand against slavery, becoming president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1787, supporting gradual emancipation. But Franklin never emancipated any of the people he enslaved.”
Almost as if the writers suddenly remembered that this was supposed to be about scientific research, not slavery, the exhibit states, “Franklin’s place in the nation’s history of slavery is part of his legacy, as is his electrical research that led to the smartphone.”
The constant mentions of slavery continue, with a small amount of scientific discovery or inventions woven in.
This 1763 engraving is one of dozens that bolstered Franklin’s fame as a scientist. It shows two of Franklin’s inventions: alarm bells that alerted him when the atmosphere became charged with electricity, and a lightning rod.
Missing from the image are the people whose labor freed Franklin to conduct his research: the women, indentured servants, and enslaved people who maintained his household, assisted him, or made or operated equipment.
The narrative goes on, and on, and on — continuing to make accusations and then admitting there is no evidence for them.
Benjamin Franklin was not just a founding Father, but a scientist. From 1746 to 1752, he conducted experiments that changed peoples’ understanding of electricity. The sparks of his inventive mind drove research and led to new inventions.
Those sparks crackle with the complications of his time. Enslaved people helped build his fortune, and may have participated in his research. We still have much to learn about that part of his scientific work.
The Coronavirus ‘Racism’ Psy-Op
An exhibit in the lobby of the second floor, immediately next to one of the museum’s main entrances, shows a “stop Asian hate” protest during the coronavirus — the “Asian hate” being a psy-op invented by the corporate media to hide the fact that the coronavirus did, in fact, come from China.
“As COVID-19 spread across the United States in early 2020, San Francisco’s Chinatown community was already shunned, even targeted by those who considered the disease ‘the China virus,’” it states. “Because Asian Americans had been subject to racist scapegoating and violence so often in the past, they organized a rally to call on their fellow citizens and residents “to fight the virus not the people.”
Not Just American History Museum
There is a huge amount of propaganda that needs to be cleaned up at numerous Smithsonian museums.
Americans would be better served if the Trump administration’s review forced the institution to have a fair and truthful depiction of their country, science, culture, history, and art.
Breccan F. Thies is a correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.
The silent majority in Washington, D.C., and across our nation is applauding. Evenone crime is one crimetoo many.
On Aug. 11, President Donald Trump, invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act passed by the United States Congress, declared a “crime emergency in the District of Columbia” and ordered the deployment of 800 National Guard troops, 200 of whom are earmarked to assist Washington law enforcement, to the city. The president named Attorney General Pam Bondi and Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole to work with the Metropolitan Police Department.
The Washington Police Union is cheering. It cited major management and staffing shortages, including over 800 vacancies in the 3,100-officer department. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, an unapologetic law-and-order mayor, questioned the move as “unsettling and unprecedented,” underscoring her support for Washington statehood.
Trump assailed the nation’s capital as “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world.” He proclaimed it was Washington’s “Liberation Day” from “crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor.” He insinuated that juveniles were “randomly attacking” citizens and called for laws to allow minors as young as 14 to be prosecuted as adults and punished by unforgiving sentences.
Data shows violent crime in Washington declining by 35% in 2024 compared to the previous year—with homicides down 12% and robberies plunging 28%. But the numbers do not equate with safety. Since at least the 1980s, Washington has led the charts in homicides per 100,000 people. Second place has never come within shouting distance. That is why ordinary people are silently exultant. That is why you will never witness a full-blown demonstration in Washington protesting Trump’s directive.
Democrats were undisturbed when California Gov. Gavin Newsom in November 2023 cleaned up the streets and moved the homeless out prior to a meeting in San Francisco between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and then-President Joe Biden. Trump’s action is indistinguishable. Washington frequently hosts foreign leaders like Xi. Ambassadors and foreign dignitaries populate the city. It is commonly the venue for summits and major public events or celebrations.
The Constitution is unambiguous. Pursuant to Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, the District of Columbia is under the control of Congress, including the Home Rule Act. Trump acted under the aegis of Congress in declaring a crime emergency and summoning the National Guard—squeaky clean initiatives by any measure.
Holding juveniles accountable for their crimes and offenses means that you teach them to take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences of what they’ve done. Accountability teaches teenagers and kids integrity, honesty, good decision-making skills and respect for others, and it gives them a stronger sense of self-worth and true self-esteem.
Armstrong Williams is a columnist for The Daily Signal and host of "The Armstrong Williams Show," a nationally syndicated TV program
The era of defining crime deviancy down is over. That is the most important message to come out of President Trump’sdeployment of the National Guardto Washington, D.C.
The late Democratic senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York coined the phrase “defining deviancy down” in 1993 to describe the normalizing of antisocial behavior in contemporary America. Levels of deviancy once regarded as unacceptable become the new norm, hardly worthy of attention.
Trump rejects that reflex. “I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,”he saidon Monday. “This is liberation day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”
About 100 to 200 National Guard soldiers will provide administrative and logistical support for local law enforcement at any given time. They might also station themselves at intersections to deter lawlessness passively through what is known as “command presence.” Additionally, Trump temporarily installed the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration to oversee the Metropolitan Police Department.
The reaction of Democratic politicians and the mainstream media to Trump’s announcement exemplifies the defining deviancy down reflex. Virtually every news article followed its report of the National Guard deployment by noting that crime has decreased in D.C. over the last two years, as if that fact rebutted the grounds for the federal action. “We are not experiencing a crime spike,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in objection to the president’s order. The implication: she and other D.C. officials have the situation under control. The National Guard deployment is nothing more than an authoritarian power grab, we are to believe.
Here is what such locally controlled crime looks like: on July 5, three-year-old Honesty Cheadle was sitting in a car with family members after attending a Fourth of July cookout. A drive-by shooting broke out, striking the toddler with a bullet to the upper body. She died two days later.
On May 3, 2024, three-year-old Ty’ah Settles was shot at under identical circumstances —a bullet from a drive-by shooting while Ty’ah was in a car. She died that night.
Also on May 3, 2024, a chaotic shootout among students outside Dunbar High School left a 17-year-old student inside the school with a bullet wound to the head; the victim’s skull was visible through the wound, according to charging documents.
Because the perpetrators of all these assaults were almost certainly black—only in Ty’ah Settles’s case have there been no arrests—their innocent black victims are of no interest to Black Lives Matter activists and their media cheerleaders.
On June 30, 2025, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old congressional intern and University of Massachusetts student, was struck multiple times in a multi-perpetrator shooting; he died the next day.
Media coverage of Trump’s National Guard call-out has all but ignored these incidents; they have become an unremarkable part of America’s urban fabric that now includes flash mobs, vicious and gratuitous pedestrian assaults, and mass looting. Though violent crime in Washington did decline last year from its 2023 high, the city still experienced nearly ten violent crimes a day, nearly six robberies, nearly three assaults with a dangerous weapon, and more than 14 car thefts a day, in a population of just over 700,000. In the first ten months of 2023, nearly three juveniles a day were shot. The city’s homicide rate in 2024 was 27.3 deaths per 100,000 residents.
By comparison, London’s homicide rate in 2023 was 1.3 per 100,000 residents; Switzerland’s homicide rate in 2021 was 0.48 per 100,000 residents. Anywhere else in the industrialized world, the D.C. crime situation would constitute a national emergency. It should in the United States, too.
Trump’s rhetoric undoubtedly strikes elite ears as hyperbolic and gauche. After a member of the Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted by a large group of teenagers on August 3, Trump posted that juveniles in Washington were “randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released.” One is not supposed to speak this way, yet Trump’s post describes a reality. Adolescent carjackers and robbers rack up long rap sheets while serving little to no prison time. On October 17, 2023, five girls in Washington, ages 12 to 15, assaulted a 64-year-old man with cancer who weighed about 110 pounds. The girls filmed themselves laughing as they stomped and kicked Reggie Brown to death while he lay helpless on the ground. The longest any of the five will be held is until the age of 21, but several will be out of detention long before then.
Trump’s deployment is both within his constitutional authority and a justified use of federal law enforcement power to correct what should be regarded as an intolerable situation. Nevertheless, Brian Schwalb, attorney general of the District of Columbia, called Trump’s actions “unlawful” and promised to “do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents.”
The National Guard does not threaten the rights and safety of D.C. residents; criminals do. Had city officials felt more urgency about their most fundamental obligation—safeguarding law and order—they would not be facing a temporary takeover of their public safety duties.
Whether a 30-day deployment can dent the habits of the city’s vandals and thugs remains to be seen. But many Americans likely cheered Trump’s mobilization order as “liberation” from paralyzing official passivity—and from a suffocating taboo on speaking the truth about urban crime.
Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and the author of When Race Trumps Meritand other books. This column is adapted from the Boston Globe, where it first appeared.
