Mideast watch: Dems’ Deadly Gaza Word Games
“Sen. Chris Murphy thinks it’s time for Israel to change its strategy in Gaza,” notes Commentary’s Seth Mandel. Not because “Israel’s warfighting is disproportionate, you see — just that it could be more proportionate.” “Democratic staff on Capitol Hill and in the administration are growing impatient with their bosses’ support for Israel’s self-defense.” This is “clearly having some effect, and not just with progressives like Murphy” — indeed, President Biden is on the same page. But “don’t call it a ceasefire! It’s a pause, a cessation, a recess.” “Democratic support for Israel’s war of self-defense will soon be circling the drain. The president needs to speak clearly and unequivocally or the West is going to suffer a disastrous setback at the hands of a terrorist group and a thesaurus.”
Urban beat: The End of Gotham’s Migrant Dream
“New York has always been powered by immigration,” observes Nicole Gelinas at UnHerd. That’s why six years ago, “few would have cast the presence of illegal migrants as a crisis.” But “it took New York nearly 40 years to absorb 500,000 unauthorised migrants into its private-sector economy,” and now the “city estimates that over the past year, 122,700 people, or a quarter of that previous total” have arrived — and that’s “likely an undercount.” Plus, today’s migrants are flooding in even as “New York has less than 1% more jobs than it had in 2019.” “As residents start to protest, as crime rates continue to soar,” Mayor Adams “may find that, rather than empowering the strong city he is supposed to represent, immigration is only fuelling resentment.”
Libertarian: Americans Want Entitlement Reform
A recent poll shows that “87 percent of respondents agreed that action is needed to extend Social Security’s solvency and avoid benefit cuts, and 89 percent said the same thing about Medicare,” reports Reason’s Eric Boehm. “Despite that, leading politicians on both sides of the aisle continue to promise that inaction is possible.” Possible fixes? While 71% “find means-testing for Social Security benefits” acceptable, 60% back “cutting other government programs to fund Social Security.” As for Medicare, 84% favor “reducing rampant fraud and waste within the government-run healthcare system.” “Finding solutions . . . is no easy task, but it can’t start until politicians recognize that ignoring the government’s entitlement-driven debt crisis is not a real option.”
Conservative: Wray, Mayorkas Have No Remorse
“Instead of showing remorse or promising reform” after being “exposed” for “annihilating free speech” in the government censorship case Missouri v. Biden, Homeland Security boss Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI chief Christopher Wray were “defensive and dishonest” in Tuesday’s congressional questioning, frets The Federalist’s Evita Duffy-Alfonso. Mayorkas, for example, claimed DHS never directed social-media companies to censor vaccine-related content, contradicting evidence from the court case. Wray claimed FBI “interactions” with social-media companies have changed since then, “which presumably means the agency has limited the brazenness of its speech policing to avoid more legal troubles.” The Supreme Court has agreed to hear challenges to the Missouri ruling, but for now, “Wray and Mayorkas are likely able to continue violating one of Americans’ most sacred and essential rights.”
Eye on the economy: Freight Biz’s Bad Omen
The recent shutdown of two freight carriers, Yellow and Convoy, has exposed “the uncertain state of trucking,” a key “indicator of the mood of the consumer and the beating heart of our economy,” warns The Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito. Rick McQuaide, who owns a freight company in Pennsylvania and Florida, worries about the wider implications of people not spending and truckers not having anything to move. Freight transportation “is the ultimate economic indicator of where the country is heading,” contends McQuaide, noting that the industry is seeing reduced consumer spending on “the big things” — and that’s “not a good omen.” September data from the government, Zito notes, seem to contradict McQuaide’s concerns, showing a surge in consumer spending. But the reaction of economists was clearly caution.
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board