The first time I ever heard a land acknowledgment, I was on a panel at a nonprofit conference in Colorado. A Native woman stood up in the audience and started shouting and demanding the floor. Most people were confused, but a few were cheering her on. When the moderator let her speak, she asked to do a “land acknowledgment.” I didn’t know what that was, but she was granted permission and said something about the land to scattered applause before we moved on.

As far as activist tactics go, it was pretty good.

It was much easier for a progressive moderator at a conference with mostly progressive attendees to just say yes than to try to have the woman forcibly removed. It’s a small-bore example of the strategic logic of nonviolent protest, and it succeeded in getting large swathes of progressive America to preemptively start doing land acknowledgments.

The 2024 Democratic platform, for example, commences with a fairly innocuous land acknowledgment, stating that they were gathering on “lands that have been stewarded through many centuries by the ancestors and descendants of Tribal Nations who have been here since time immemorial.” But the Native Governance Center’s guide to Indigenous land acknowledgments tells us, “Don’t sugarcoat the past. Use terms like genocide, ethnic cleansing, stolen land, and forced removal to reflect actions taken by colonizers.”

I think it’s worthwhile to consider the distinction here.

The Democratic platform land acknowledgment is a symptom of a party that is more focused on internal coalition management than on winning elections. What it says in your platform almost certainly doesn’t matter, but a disciplined political party focused on winning would not be making this sort of concession to activist demands. That being said, if hailing the stewardship of those who came before us became a widely adopted ritual in American life, that seems unobjectionable on the merits to me. It’s a bit cringe, but so is singing the national anthem at the start of a youth sports event. There’s never going to be a cringeless set of national rituals, and rituals are important.

But the stolen land claim is an ideological provocation that I think needs to be rejected. National Students for Justice in Palestine describes its mission as “supporting over 400 Palestine solidarity organizations across occupied Turtle Island (so-called North America).” I think both friends and foes of the anti-Zionist movement understand that they are sincere in their desire to delegitimize the Israeli state, and it’s worth taking seriously the fact that there is a parallel (albeit more far-fetched) movement to delegitimize the United States of America and that this needs to be contested by American liberals in a real way rather than appeased. Not least because it’s hard to explain what’s wrong with the increasingly deranged tenor of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric unless you’re able to articulate the values of traditional American civic nationalism.

Abraham Lincoln, of course, understood Americanism far better than whatever groyper creeps are running the Labor Department. He wrote to Joshua Speed about the anti-immigration agitators of his time:

As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.” When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

Lincoln isn’t the last word on the details of immigration policy, which is complicated and admits of a lot of nuance. But he should be the first word. America is a country whose institutions are committed to the noble principles of human freedom and equality, and we need to be able to say in both directions that those institutions are legitimate.

The problem with indigeneity

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Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George jumped into D.C.’s mayoral race on Monday, becoming the first contender to step into the wide open contest after Mayor Muriel Bowser’s recent decision to not seek a fourth term.

The two-term councilmember enters the race as the progressive hopeful: a self-declared democratic socialist looking to capitalize on anger over President Trump’s aggressive interference in local affairs and Zohran Mamdani’s surprising victory in New York City’s mayoral race last month. 

But Lewis George, 37, won’t be alone for long: Sources close to At-Large Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie tell The 51st that he’s meeting with campaign consultants this week, hinting that his own entry into the mayoral race isn’t so much a question of if, but rather when. (Local developer Gary Goodweather has also launched a campaign for mayor.)

“Too many residents still feel squeezed financially, from unaffordable housing to child care, and feel unsafe in their neighborhoods,” said Lewis George in a statement announcing her candidacy. (She also released a slickly produced video.) “Residents face uneven access to opportunity and a city government that on its best days feels unresponsive, and on its worst, is leaving residents out in the cold all because leaders have chosen to prioritize the needs of the well-connected over us. That’s wrong, it’s not the D.C. we should be and that's why I’m running for mayor.”

And her campaign has gotten off to a quick start: Within four hours of announcing her mayoral run, Lewis George said the campaign had raised the required $40,000 in small-dollar contributions from at least 1,000 D.C. residents that’s required to qualify for public funding under the city’s Fair Elections program. (The campaign says Bowser took 14 days to similarly qualify during her re-election bid in 2022.)  Lewis George will now receive a $160,000 base payment, and $5 in public funds for every $1 she raises from residents. (The maximum a mayoral candidate can receive in public funds is $3.4 million.) 

Lewis George burst onto D.C.’s political scene in 2020, when she defeated incumbent and Bowser ally Brandon Todd for the Ward 4 seat on the D.C. Council. Since then Lewis George has proposed sweeping legislation to build publicly owned mixed-income housing (known as social housing), but her legislative victories have generally been narrower, including a 2021 bill to ensure that all DCPS schools have a full-time librarian and a 2023 measure that requires more regular trash collection at residential buildings. 

She has also remained a steadfast member of the council’s progressive wing, even as that faction has lost some influence in recent years. (Her campaign chairman is Tommy Wells, who himself ran for mayor as a progressive in 2014.) In 2023, Lewis George was one of the few lawmakers who voted against a bill that would expand pre-trial detention for people accused of committing violent crimes; more recently she also voted against extending the city’s expanded youth curfew, citing concerns over the ongoing presence of federal agents and the National Guard. Lewis George also voted against the RENTAL Act, Bowser’s bill to help struggling landlords by speeding some evictions, and loudly argued against a provision the council added to the city’s 2026 budget that partially repeals the voter-approved initiative that was phasing out the tipped wage paid to restaurant workers. 

At the same time, Lewis George did vote in favor of the $3.7 billion stadium deal to bring the Commanders back to RFK, recognizing the “emotional case for moving forward with the deal” while also pushing for increased labor protections for residents.

While her campaign so far isn’t mirroring Mamdani’s initial big-ticket promises to voters – free buses and childcare, and freezing rent on rent-controlled apartments — Lewis George is hinting at ambitious proposals to come. She says she will work to expand the city’s rent-control law, which currently only applies to buildings constructed before 1975; promises universal afterschool programs; wants to cap the prices of concert tickets offered by resellers; and pledges big investments in renewable energy as a means to bring down electricity prices. 

Lewis George is also tapping into growing anger over how Bowser navigated the complicated relationship with President Trump, notably the Metropolitan Police Department’s continued cooperation with ICE agents on immigration enforcement. 

“I think the job of mayor is to protect and defend residents, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not complying in advance. I’m going to have moral clarity and courage,” she told The 51st. “I will work with whomever on the issues our city is facing. What I will not do is not defend the people and our families.” 

On some issues, though, Lewis George doesn’t deviate that dramatically from Bowser. She says one way she wants to make the city more affordable is to build more housing; Bowser oversaw the construction of tens of thousands of new housing units herself. Still, Lewis George tells The 51st that she wants to pursue her vision of social housing, and put stricter new requirements on how public funds are used to build affordable housing. 

And much like Mamdani – who was critical of police but still decided to keep New York City’s current police commissioner in place – Lewis George says she supports Bowser’s push to expand MPD’s ranks to 4,000 officers, up from the 3,200 today. “We have to have more officers because right now we are spending millions in overtime,” she tells The 51st. 

That position hints at one possible vulnerability that many of the progressive candidates running for office in D.C. concede they face – public safety. (In endorsement questionnaires submitted this fall to the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, five council candidates admitted the issue could be the most challenging for them.) In her campaign video, the first issue Lewis George addresses is crime, citing her experience as a juvenile prosecutor in the office of the D.C. attorney general.

“I don’t see crime as an issue that is scary as a progressive. It’s an issue I am prepared to lead on because I have led on it. Public safety issues and crime are a disease, and you have to approach them as such. You have to attack the symptoms, and it is multi-pronged and multilayered. I lean into public safety because I am excited to solve them,” she says. (Lewis George won a second term in office in 2024, defeating two challengers who tried to paint her as soft on crime.)

Lewis George’s progressive vision for D.C. could also prompt questions about how practical it is. While Bowser enjoyed years of a growing economy and ever-increasing revenue, Trump’s sweeping changes to the federal government and a continuing hangover from the pandemic have slowed economic growth and led to tighter city budgets. 

More details about Lewis George’s platform will be fleshed out in the weeks to come. “I’m going to be rolling out my plans,” she says. “Part of that is listening to other people so I am creating a vision that is for all of D.C.”

Been awhile since I’ve been in an ambulance — 2018, to be exact — to George Washington University Hospital. That night was a blur from the moment I called 911. It felt like minutes between my 8:00 pm call and my ER vending-machine snacks at 1:00 am.

I was a front-seat passenger that night, so I can say with confidence that of all the things that happened, one critical thing did not: I was not stuck in an ambulance on the 1400 block of Columbia Road NW. Now that I live on that block of Columbia, I can say, again with confidence, that I wouldn’t be so lucky if something happened to me here. I see emergency vehicles mired in traffic on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis.

My interactions with DC Fire and EMS have, since 2018, been limited to their vehicles’ proximity to my home when they are en route to a call. I grew up in the area along a Montgomery County Fire and Rescue route, so the noise and lights don’t bother me. What does is how much of an obstacle the design of my block is to emergency vehicles — and to everyone else.

Columbia Road is Ward 1’s vital westbound thoroughfare and the route of the C61 bus line (H2/H3/H4 for nostalgia; Capital Traction Company for history). I’ve been on it as a transit rider, a driver, a cyclist, and a pedestrian, and, via every mode, I think it is indefensible that two of the three lanes on this street are reserved for parking. That’s 66% of its capacity! This layout causes congestion and constant conflict. One travel lane and two lanes of parking has more in common with DC USA’s parking garage than a major directional artery.

Thus, the District Department of Transportation’s forthcoming Columbia Heights crosstown bus priority project, which is intended to “improve safety and bus transit operations on multiple roadway segments in Ward 1.” It’s true that you can not only outrun, but mostly out-walk the C61 as it crawls from Park View to Adams Morgan, particularly at rush hour. This project is intended to alleviate that burden on the C61. Even a potential loss of 30 parking spaces on my block alone can’t keep me from backing a better situation for the bus.

Comments on the crosstown project are open until this Friday, December 5, 2025. You can submit yours here. GGWash has been backing Scenario 2, which would build “full offset bus lanes throughout the project’s crosstown corridors.” Read a detailed summary here.

There are even more reasons to repurpose parking on the 1400 block, which serves much beyond “bus” and “emergency.” It’s functionally overflow space for the many people and uses there, like school pickup and dropoff, delivery drivers, and slow parallel parkers (like myself). Columbia Road’s current design creates inherent conflicts between the needs of those of us who live in the neighborhood and those traveling through it, resulting in everything from incessant honking to shouting matches to actual physical altercations. The crossing guard at CentroNía defuses all this, and more, on the majority of weekdays.

Syncing up Columbia Road, especially the 1400 block, with how many of us actually use it — particularly the sizable number of Columbia Heights residents who do not own a car or drive at all — will take a lot, and require less space for private vehicles. The Columbia Heights Crosstown bus priority project is a meaningful start to better accommodating more people with greater flexibility. Let DDOT know you also believe so before December 5.

Top image: A bus lane on another part of Columbia Road. Image by BeyondDC licensed under Creative Commons.

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Two weeks ago, the world of education was rocked by a bombshell report from the University of California San Diego. It revealed that the number of UCSD students who lack basic reading and math skills has absolutely exploded since 2020. The percentage of students needing a remedial class on basic junior-high-school level math jumped from 0.5% to over 12%. Some were even unable to do basic elementary school math. More than a fifth of entering students now fail to meet basic writing requirements.

According to the report, pandemic learning loss is one reason there are so many incapable students showing up at UCSD, but most of the problem is due to falling admissions standards. The UC system eliminated standardized test requirements in 2020, and since then it has been admitting rising numbers of kids from bad schools that inflate grades by ridiculous amounts.

Lots of people have written very good articles about this report since then, so I’ll quote from a few of them. The Argument’s Kelsey Piper talks about how the problem isn’t that UCSD students haven’t completed the required K-12 math courses — it’s often that they did complete the courses but were given passing grades without actually learning math:

Only 39% of the students in the remedial class knew how to “round the number 374518 to the nearest hundred.”

Reviewing test results like these, you would expect transcripts full of Cs, Ds, or even failing grades. But alarmingly, these students’ transcripts…said they had taken advanced math courses and performed well.

“Of those who demonstrated math skills not meeting middle school levels,” the report found, 42% reported completing calculus or precalculus…The students were broadly receiving good grades, too: More than a quarter of the students needing remedial math had a 4.0 grade point average in math. The average was 3.7…A number of high schools are awarding A grades to AP Calculus students who do not have any calculus skills and who would get the lowest possible score on the AP Calculus exam if they took it…

“I have taught AP Calc in circumstances that produced this kind of result,” one public school high school math teacher told me. “No one can do fractions.”…[A]lmost all of them fail the AP Calculus exam at the end of the year.

And The Atlantic’s Rose Horowitch finds that while the problem is especially severe at UC schools, it’s a nationwide issue, and it has its roots in falling standards at public schools:

[UCSD’s] problems are extreme, but they are not unique. Over the past five years, all of the other University of California campuses…have seen the number of first-years who are unprepared for precalculus double or triple. George Mason University…students began arriving at their calculus course unable to do algebra…

America’s students are getting much worse at math. The decline started about a decade ago and sharply accelerated during the…pandemic. The average eighth grader’s math skills, which rose steadily from 1990 to 2013, are now a full school year behind where they were in 2013, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress…

Many [school] districts adopted a “no zeros” policy, forcing teachers to pass students who had little command of the material. One study of public-school students across Washington State found that almost none received an F in spring 2020, while the share of students who received A’s skyrocketed. Math grades have remained elevated in the years since…Together, these changes meant that even as students’ math preparation was stagnating, their grades were going up.

New York Magazine’s Andrew Rice has more details on the collapse of public education in America:

Last winter, the federal government released the results of its semi-annual reading and math tests of fourth- and eighth-graders…On reading tests, 40 percent of fourth-graders and one-third of eighth-graders performed below “basic,” the lowest threshold…

Nearly 30 percent could not pick the answer (“He wants to read it instead”). A similar proportion of eighth-graders failed to come up with the following sum:

12 + (-4) + 12 + 4 = _______.

…One math problem set out a scenario involving a restaurant check…Test-takers were asked to add the costs of…six items and calculate a 20 percent tip. Three-quarters of the high-schoolers were unable to correctly answer one or both parts of the question.

Rice’s article is very long and has many more details about how and why public education quality has collapsed in America. The basic story is that the education reform movement spearheaded by George W. Bush, which focused on improving test scores, collapsed in the mid-2010s. After that, public schools across the country began to lower their standards — passing kids who didn’t know the material, making their curricula a lot easier, etc. Often, kids just skip class entirely — in Oregon, around a third of all schoolchildren are chronically absent from school.

This was sometimes done in the name of “equity”— even though the new lax policies lead to widening racial and gender gaps. The rise of phones in schools probably exacerbated the trend, as did the pandemic, but the fundamental cause is lax standards everywhere.

Most of the articles about this slow-motion disaster just stick to decrying the report, calling for tighter educational standards, and tracing the demise of the education reform movement. I share their alarm, and I agree with their prescriptions. But I think it’s also worth thinking about exactly why education is going down the tubes in America.

One obvious possibility is that this is just another case of progressive activist culture on autopilot. In the past two or three decades, progressive governance has absolutely collapsed at the city and state level in a number of areas — housing, crime, infrastructure city services, and so on. It makes sense that education would just be one more failure of a progressive ideology that consistently prizes the bad ideas of the loudest activists. In this case, it was activists who pressured the UC system into dropping standardized test requirements.

Another obvious theory is that America is a very rich country, and the richer people get, the less they want to work hard — and helping your kids get through a tough, demanding education system is certainly hard work. Andrew Rice’s article mentions how local school board elections are usually dominated by upper-income white voters, while the degradation of educational standards tends to impact disadvantaged minorities more.

But I think there’s something else going on here. The extremely widespread nature of the breakdown of American education suggests that it’s not just progressive activism and lazy rich people. I basically see efforts to dilute and hobble the U.S. education system as a misguided attack on our pervasive economic and social inequality. To put it bluntly, Americans think that by giving everyone a free pass and refusing to educate smart kids, they can smooth out some of the inequality that results from the uneven distribution of talent.

Killing education is an incredibly bad form of “predistribution”

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Over at NRO, Andrew McCarthy largely agrees with Jack Goldsmith's conclusion that the the reported attack on survivors of a drug boat strike was unlawful. According to McCarthy, "If this happened as described in the Post report, it was, at best, a war crime under federal law." He writes further:

even if we stipulate arguendo that the administration has a colorable claim that our forces are in an armed conflict with non-state actors (i.e., suspected members of drug cartels that the administration has dubiously designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs)), the laws of war do not permit the killing of combatants who have been rendered hors de combat (out of the fighting) — including by shipwreck.

To reiterate, I don't accept that the ship operators are enemy combatants — even if one overlooks that the administration has not proven that they are drug traffickers or members of designated FTOs. There is no armed conflict. They may be criminals (if it is proven that they are importing illegal narcotics), but they are not combatants.

My point, nevertheless, is that even if you buy the untenable claim that they are combatants, it is a war crime to intentionally kill combatants who have been rendered unable to fight. It is not permitted, under the laws and customs of honorable warfare, to order that no quarter be given — to apply lethal force to those who surrender or who are injured, shipwrecked, or otherwise unable to fight.

A key point here is that McCarty is not relying upon UN-affiliated entites nor unincorporated international law for his conclusion. Rather, he is resting his contentions on federal law (including those portions of the laws of war or international law that have been formally ratified by the Senate).

The laws of war, as they are incorporated into federal law, make lethal force unlawful if it is used under certain circumstances. Hence, it cannot be a defense to say, as Hegseth does, that one has killed because one's objective was "lethal, kinetic strikes."

And, it is worth noting, that federal law imposes the most severe penalties on war crimes.

McCarthy also highlights the fundamental irrationality of the Administration's policy, particularly given the constraints of federal law

. . . if an arguable combatant has been rendered hors de combat, targeting him with lethal force cannot be rationalized, as Bradley is said to have done, by theorizing that it was possible, at some future point, that the combatant could get help and be able to contribute once again to enemy operations. . . .

if the Post report is accurate — Hegseth and his commanders changed the protocols after the September 2 attack, "to emphasize rescuing suspected smugglers if they survived strikes." This is why two survivors in a subsequent strike (on October 16) were captured and then repatriated to their native countries (Colombia and Ecuador).

This was a ludicrous outcome: under prior policy, the boat would have been interdicted, the drugs seized, and the operators transferred to federal court for prosecution and hefty sentences. Under the Trump administration's policy, if the operators survive our missiles, they get to go back home and rejoin the drug trade. But put that aside. The point is that, if the administration's intent to apply lethal force were a defense to killing shipwrecked suspected drug traffickers, the policy wouldn't have been changed. It was changed because Hegseth knows he can't justify killing boat operators who survive attacks; and he sends them home rather than detaining them as enemy combatants because, similarly, there is no actual armed conflict, so there is no basis to detain them as enemy combatants.

The post McCarthy: "'We Intended the Strike to Be Lethal' Is Not a Defense" appeared first on Reason.com.