Israel Fighting and Kamala’s “Going to Do” Issue: A Collection of Commentary
Foreign desk: Let Israel Fight
How did we come “to the precipice of a full-scale war between Israel and Iran?” asks The Free Press’ Eli Lake.
Because “the Biden administration views its support for Israel in purely defensive terms, and feels a duty to restrain Israel’s offense. The American hug comes with handcuffs.”
The result: “Further Iranian escalation,” likely because “the mullahs believed that America would continue to restrain Israel.”
“So why not give Israel the green light and help it defang the chief cause of regional instability, the Iranian regime?”
“Israel has vast capabilities — as it has shown in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, and Iran over the last year. But it’s even more capable when its chief ally supports its mission.” So: “The win is there if the president takes it.”
Conservative: Kam’s ‘Going To Do’ Problem
If Kamala “Harris wants to help struggling Americans, why hasn’t she? She does hold the second-highest office in the land, after all,” roars the Federalist’s Kylee Griswold.
With all the problems Americans now face, “it’s pretty rich to hear the current vice president and her running mate talk about all the things she’s ‘going to do’ if” elected.
Harris “is exceedingly culpable for the sorry state of our once-great nation — especially since she lied about [Joe Biden’s] health and vigor for years.”
She “doesn’t get a free pass, no matter how hard she and her new running mate try to clean her slate with joy and vibes.”
Fact is, “when politicians like Harris and Walz drone on about what they’re going to do in the future, you really only need to look at what they’ve done in the past.”
Crime blotter: Deceptive FBI Crime Stats
“It’s easy to see why some are a little cynical when the FBI reports, only five weeks before the presidential election, that violent crime declined in 2023,” snarks Merrill Matthews at The Hill.
Be skeptical of the FBI’s data: “It relies on ‘participating law enforcement agencies’ ” when many have stopped participating.
Meanwhile, the National Crime Victimization Survey “relies on responses from some 230,000 households” and shows “violent crime rose by 19 percent between 2019 and 2023,” with urban violent crime up 54%.
Meanwhile, “exploding retail theft has led many companies to close stores in several urban areas, both because of unsustainable losses and concern for employee safety.”
Fact is, it seems “urban crime is increasing while suburban and rural crime is decreasing or stable,” thanks to “progressive policies like ‘defund the police’” along with significant increases in the amount thieves are allowed to steal (e.g., $950) before it’s considered a felony.”
Libertarian: A Sad ‘Cancel Culture’ Win
The American Federation for Children fired Corey DeAngelis after revelations that the education researcher once appeared in a gay porn film — a “classic example of cancel culture,” thunders Reason’s Robby Soave.
DeAngelis “is being punished for a regretted incident from his distant past that has nothing to do with his current job.”
And: “Left-leaning gay media outlets,” outrageously, “are reveling.”
But there is nothing inherently “anti-gay” about advocating for “school choice,” just like “there is no tension between DeAngelis’s decision, a decade ago, to appear in a gay pornographic film, and his current work calling for more freedom in education.”
Labor beat: Harris’ Union Giveaway
Kamala Harris has “called for ‘additional paths’ to good-paying jobs, ‘such as apprenticeships and technical programs,’ ” notes The Wall Street Journal’s Jason L. Riley, and vowed to “encourage the private sector to work with unions, school districts, community colleges, governors, and mayors on Registered Apprenticeships.”
Yet “Harris isn’t in favor of expanding all apprenticeships, only the ones controlled by the building trades.”
Hmm: Donald Trump in 2017 “signed an executive order that allowed not only unions but also colleges, corporations and business organizations to manage training programs, which are concentrated in a handful of industries, mainly construction.”
But unions “opposed the effort” and “the Biden-Harris administration rescinded the executive order.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
