Election watch: It’s the Economy, Stupid
“According to the corporate media narrative, the economy is just swell,” scoffs Steve Cortes at American Greatness, “but regular Americans know better.” Polling for his League of American Workers “proves the point”: In Arizona, for example, former President Donald Trump leads President Biden by 4 points, mostly due to “economic disenchantment with Biden.” Voters say they were better off under Trump than Biden by a “stunning” 53%-35% margin. That mirrors results in other swing states: “Voters have many worries, from the effectively open border to increasingly unsafe streets in America. But the number one worry, consistently, involves an economy that only works well for the credentialed elites while the working-class masses suffer.”
Censorship beat: First Amendment at Risk
Lower courts slammed the Biden administration’s “vast, multi-agency campaign to police content on social-media platforms and to pressure Big Tech to suppress views it dislikes,” but several Supreme Court justices seem to buy “the twisted logic” that “it is the US government’s own speech rights — not the public’s — that are under threat,” thunders Spiked’s Sean Collins. Yes, “the government can speak its mind to the media and seek to persuade them of its opinion,” but its “actions have gone far beyond ‘sharing information,’ ‘urging action’ and ‘participating in debate.’ Indeed, the plaintiffs’ brief presents ample evidence of how the Biden administration crossed the line from persuasion to coercion of social-media companies,” including repeated “threats of legal or regulatory retribution.” And “the ideas that the administration wants to ‘protect’ us from are often the truth.”
Libertarian: Congress’ Spending Addiction
“Despite the Senate’s declaration that the national debt is a national security risk and the [Congressional Budget Office’s] attempts to sound the alarm about the federal government’s fiscal trajectory, there’s still a major shortage of elected officials who want to take the problem seriously,” warns Reason’s Eric Boehm. The CBO’s “report shows that annual budget deficits are on pace to grow from an expected $1.6 trillion this year” to “$7.3 trillion in 2054.” House Speaker Mike Johnson supports plans for a commission that “could propose some solutions” but “only if the agency could not suggest tax increases or cuts to entitlement programs. That approach guarantees that the federal government will have to continue borrowing heavily to make ends meet.”
From the right: Biden’s Democrats Hate Israel
“President Joe Biden and his underlings say they’re staunch defenders of Israel’s democratic light in the Middle East’s engulfing darkness, but actions and rhetoric suggest otherwise,” roars the Washington Examiner’s Hugo Gurdon. Biden says Israel “would cross a red line” if it invades Hamas’ last stronghold in Rafah. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “called for Israelis to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he accused of pursuing the war ‘over the best interests of Israel.’” If Schumer “is willing to undermine Israeli unity and give aid to Hamas,” it’s simply a sign that “he knows his party is now that radical.” The “militant Left” among Democrats simply sees Palestinians as “oppressed” and “Jews as oppressors.”
Media desk: Who’s In Charge at the NYT?
“The protesters who regularly gather in front of the Times offices” have “allies in the newsroom,” notes The Free Press’ Eli Lake: Witness the response to the paper’s piece “Screams Without Words,” on Hamas’ rapes. “The paper launched an internal investigation to find who disclosed” internal docs around the story to The Intercept; “the editorial leadership instituted a new newsroom policy aimed at ending the leaking of Slack messages that have driven so much negative coverage of the Gray Lady.” And: “Reporters have been asked to turn over their phones.” “It’s unclear if the newspaper will eventually cave as it did in 2020.” But many staffers “do not want to investigate the sexual violence that occurred on October 7. They see it as a vulnerability to their own side in the information war about Gaza.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
