Wired magazine, like the other formerly left-leaning but worthwhile topical publications, has traded relevant content for leftist pablum. In this edition, they explore the insidious Manhattan Institute.
The right-wing think tank is actively pushing “civil terrorism”—increasing penalties for minor crimes committed while people engage in constitutionally protected free speech. https://t.co/EgbM4hb0Zp
— WIRED (@WIRED) June 2, 2026
From the article quoting a Manhattan Institute fellow:
“Today’s left-wing agitators deploy random acts of lawlessness designed to inconvenience and disrupt as many civilians as possible, ... This tactic is reasonably described as a form of terrorism, though the activists aren’t murderous like al-Qaida or Hamas ... Instead, they engage in civil terrorism,” wrote Manhattan Institute legal policy fellow Tal Fortgang, a recent New York University law graduate who lambasted students protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza for “Jew hatred.”
This, by the way, is what bothers the writer.
If you read the same article from a right-leaning perspective, you see that the Manhattan Institute is fulfilling a very important role: dismantling DEI and pushing for increased penalties for the kind of 'peaceful protests' that cost blue cities billions. These are very things that have Wired freelancers panties in a bunch with their penchant for 'dismantling' the social order - or systematic racism, capitalism and patriarchy as they like to call it.
If you can't be free to bully and terrorize Jewish students for 'Israel's war on Gaza', is this even America? No sir, it's more like the Fascist Nazi Germany where you can bully and terrorize Jewish students.
The writer, who seems to doubt that campus Gaza protests were fueled by Jew-hatred, is mistaken. https://t.co/HMTGKwvEik
— Melissa Braunstein (@slowhoneybee) June 2, 2026
The rest of the article is just as bad, especially if you were hoping to learn about the latest advances in LLM learning algorithms, which one might expect from a technology magazine named 'Wired'.
The writer who suggested pushing Andrew Yang in front of oncoming traffic believes that allowing foreign front groups to shut down bridges, tunnels, and campuses is protected speech.
— 🇺🇸 Jason Curtis Anderson (@JCAndersonNYC) June 2, 2026
Nice one @WIRED 👌 https://t.co/0kopUwDy7Z pic.twitter.com/ltC7mrFuJG
And now that you know what the author is all about, you can see why he's so bothered by the MI.
This pearl-clutching piece delighted all the right people.
If you enjoyed watching the @ManhattanInst take an absolute sledgehammer to DEI, you're going to love seeing us eviscerate civil terrorism.
— Jesse Arm (@Jesse_Leg) June 2, 2026
In America, free speech rights do not entitle you to block roads, destroy property, illegally trespass, or harass the public—all while… https://t.co/kOFKO7I0CY pic.twitter.com/5ndQjwx6Op
... hiding behind a mask and using resources from anti-Western funders to wage a campaign of crime designed to coerce the majority into following the whims of a radical minority. You should be punished for such conduct. And we'll continue making that case. Want to support our work?
Who doesn't love free advertising? Arm is a vice president of the Manhattan Institute.
Proud to work with my brilliant @ManhattanInst colleagues like @tal_fortgang on this important issue. Check out my conversation with Tal on civil terrorism for the @CityJournal podcast from earlier this year to understand this important policy debate: https://t.co/KBGvEQzEKp https://t.co/DMTp7glVxm
— Rafael A. Mangual (@Rafa_Mangual) June 2, 2026
Speaking of, another MI fellow weighs in.
The Manhattan Institute (@ManhattanInst) doesn't exist to merely exist. We exist to get things done. Our track record speaks for itself.
— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) June 2, 2026
We turn donation money into effective policy more efficiently than anyone. Support our work below!https://t.co/mC9GWhnvmN https://t.co/1c5nlBXYzT pic.twitter.com/E1FSzkINtV
Dang! And another!
They’re basically writing press releases for us at Wired now pic.twitter.com/UhaTg5E8Ot
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) June 2, 2026
This one was our favorite.
“civil terrorism”
— Je Suis Charlie 🎤 🇺🇸 (@slashapu81) June 2, 2026
“economic violence”
“social violence”
You idiots are positively addicted to dreaming up scary-sounding, lib-coded phrases for, essentially, anything you don’t like
You have to get graduate degree and be $400K in debt to learn to dissemble this artfully.
Punish crime. End of story. The left has become not just uncivil but increasingly violent.
— MarcusAIngram (@MarcusAIngram) June 2, 2026
This is what we must address as a society or risk losing it.
Here's the point for the weekend revolutionaries and the masked Antifa basement dwellers:
Are you incapable of engaging in free speech without committing crimes? Most people are quite capable in that regard.
— Chris Sonnenberg (@CSonnenberg6) June 2, 2026
False.
— ThePeoplesBacon (@BaconOTPeople) June 2, 2026
Riots aren't speech. Neither is trespassing, destruction of public property, disturbing the peace, assault or impeding public transit.
These may be "minorcrimes" but they are terror tactics. The constitution doesn't protect riots.
Attacking law enforcement, blocking traffic, and general interferring with law enforcement is NOT protected speech. Morons.
— Goldens Rule (@retiredgolden) June 2, 2026
As the ever quotable Fusilli Spock once put it:
Speech from the right = Violence
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) June 1, 2017
Violence from the left = Speech
Can we get together a mass gathering to invade the WIRED offices and engage in minor acts of disobedience? I mean, it will be mostly peaceful.
— DiddyDubya (@DiddyDubya) June 2, 2026
We DO NOT endorse this, but it is fun to imagine the ACAB crowd calling the police.
you’re basically writing @ManhattanInst’s donor impact report for them
— Neeraja Deshpande (@neerajadeshp) June 2, 2026
Delightful, isn't it?