NATIONAL REVIEW
APR 05, 2024 |
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◼ The cease-fire Joe Biden really wants is in Michigan and Minnesota.
◼ In a reportedly tense conversation on Thursday, President Biden urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to an "immediate cease-fire" with Hamas. According to a White House statement released following the call, Biden also "made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers." Furthermore, "U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined" by the U.S. government's "assessment of Israel's immediate action on these steps." For six months, Biden's administration has funneled hard-power military aid to Israel while his political operation, in a bid to protect his left flank, has tut-tutted Israel as it tries to prosecute a defensive war against its terrorist enemies: an uninspiring policy that may be in the process of resolving into something worse.
◼ Netanyahu said that he "deeply regrets" the air strikes in Gaza that inadvertently killed seven aid workers with the humanitarian group World Central Kitchen (WCK). Israeli chief of staff Herzi Halevi joined him in apologizing for the "unintentional harm" caused by the strikes, which Jerusalem continues to investigate but believes were a result of faulty intelligence. But Israel's obsessive critics, such as WCK founder and celebrity chef José Andrés and U.N. special rapporteur on "the occupied Palestinian territories" Francesca Albanese, believe that Israel may have targeted the aid workers deliberately. A dastardly plot, indeed. One that required Jerusalem to play a long game in which it allowed the WCK to operate inside Gaza for months only so that, one day, it could engineer an embarrassment for itself. Typically, conspiracy theorists feel compelled to establish a facially plausible motive for the alleged conspirators. When it comes to Israel, however, they get lazy.
◼ You may not have known that March 31 is "Transgender Day of Visibility." The calendar of LGBT-themed celebrations has gotten very packed, even outside the all-consuming "Pride Month" of June. Transgender Day of Visibility is not to be confused with Transgender Day of Remembrance, for example, which is November 20. So it can be hard to keep track of these occasions, even though they are now pushed with quasi-religious fervor from the commanding heights of society. That includes the Biden White House, which marked Transgender Day of Visibility. It happened that Easter also fell on March 31 this year. On social media, the Biden administration noted both holidays, but differences in language and emphasis made the balance of its enthusiasm clear, and it wasn't for Easter. In response to the perceived slight of Christians on the most important day of their calendar, the president's defenders claimed that he had celebrated TDoV on March 31 in prior years as well and that doing so this year therefore could not have been intended as a snub. Biden then said he "didn't do that" when asked about proclaiming Easter Sunday as TDoV. (Senior Days of Forgetfulness can strike at any time on the calendar.) The unanswered question: If "trans women are women" and "trans men are men," why do they need a day of visibility in the first place?
◼ There is plenty the federal government can and should do to help Maryland after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. But it should help, not fund the entire replacement, and it should do so with deregulation and money already available, not with additional spending. Less than three years ago, the federal government authorized $1.1 trillion in infrastructure spending, most of which remains unspent. Any federal aid for the project should be pulled from that pot of money. The bridge is owned and operated by the State of Maryland, which is in good fiscal health and can tax, borrow, and spend on its own. Most highway spending is from the states already, and it should be the long-term goal of federal policy to have states entirely fund their own highways. The federal government can also save Maryland money by waiving environmental and labor regulations. None of this requires Congress to authorize a single penny of additional spending. Representatives should resist pressure from the Biden administration to do so.
◼ Donald Trump's New York legal woes continue. With his state criminal trial set to begin in nine days in Manhattan, Judge Juan Merchan ratcheted up a gag order. Trump had already been stifled from commenting about witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff, though he was permitted to opine on Merchan, District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and the general unfairness of the proceedings. After Trump inveighed against the judge's daughter, Loren, Judge Merchan added family members of trial participants to the gag order. But Trump's remarks about Merchan's daughter were not intimidating: He simply added to evidence that Merchan is biased and should recuse himself by relating that Merchan's daughter is a self-described progressive political operative and does campaign work for top Democrats—including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Representative Adam Schiff—who define themselves by opposition to Trump. The gag order plays into Trump's hands. He probably senses that conviction in the hush-money case is likely and so is discrediting the proceedings to bolster his campaign narrative of Democrats' weaponizing the justice system. Meanwhile, Trump turned to an insurance company controlled by Don Hankey, another billionaire with a reputation for questionable business practices, for the $175 million bond that blocks Attorney General Letitia James from enforcing a $454 million civil fraud judgment against him while he appeals. Both Republicans and Democrats have made choices that guarantee a steady stream of such news for the rest of the campaign. |
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◼ With Ukraine on the cusp of being forced into retreat, all eyes are on Congress, and more specifically on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) as he mulls a legislative path to securing more U.S. funding for Kyiv's defensive effort against Russia. Previous such attempts have stalled, stymied by Ukraine-aid skeptics in the House GOP. Johnson has floated two new ideas: to send Russian assets seized by the U.S. to Ukraine, and to offer security assistance in the form of a loan. Johnson is being forced to cater to the political demands of lawmakers who oppose any form of assistance to Ukraine, but the latest ideas could offer some cover to GOP lawmakers who want to do the right thing. The fact that former president Trump popularized the idea of offering loans to Ukraine may tamp down opposition. In an ideal world, none of these obstacles would exist. But this is a desperate situation, and Johnson needs to do whatever it takes to get something done.
◼ One Ukraine-aid skeptic is Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.). She said that the U.S. government "is funding a war that most people do not support in a country that no one can find on a map, hardly." "Funding a war" is a strange way to describe U.S. aid to Ukraine. Putin's Russia has made war on the Ukrainians. Until the recent blocking of aid, our government has been helping Ukrainians defend themselves and fight for their country, their freedom, their independence—their very right to exist. Greene says that "most people do not support" aid. The measurements of public opinion that we have consistently show otherwise. As for finding Ukraine on a map: Even those who are not learned in geography can recognize the importance of national sovereignty, the rule of law, and stopping expansionist dictators before they go for more. Americans at large have a better grasp on the matter than Greene and her coterie. |
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◼ For the first time since 1997, the federal government is changing how it classifies Americans by race and ethnicity. Ideally, a government founded on the principle that "all men are created equal" would not classify its citizens by race and ethnicity at all. That so many Americans struggle to fit themselves into the assigned racial boxes says much about the endeavor. The government proposes—properly, if one assumes the premise of the question—that more than one right answer can be given, and that our binary categories of "white or black" and "Hispanic or not" do nothing for people who locate their heritage in the new "Middle Eastern and North African" category, which itself remains a vague agglomeration of Arabs, Persians, Afghans, and people of other backgrounds. If anything good comes from the new classifications, it will not be the creation of ever more boutique categories of grievance. It will, instead, be the reminder that America's true diversity is so multifarious that we should celebrate its uncategorizability, not use it to create more bureaucracy.
◼ 60 Minutes, the Insider (a Russian-focused news website), and Der Spiegel have jointly presented new evidence regarding "Havana syndrome"—the debilitating set of symptoms suffered by U.S. diplomats and spies posted around the world. The reports support the thesis that a hit squad from Russia's GRU intelligence service has carried out attacks using weapons that direct microwaves at their targets. Last year, an unclassified summary by the American intelligence community stated that "most agencies have concluded it is 'very unlikely' a foreign adversary is responsible." But the new reports present compelling, albeit not conclusive, evidence linking Russian operatives to a few of the attacks. They also show that the deputy commander of a GRU cell was promoted after his team furnished the Kremlin with proof that he had conducted research on just the sorts of weapons that would be involved. Senator J. D. Vance (R., Ohio) mocked the reports as signs of anti-Russian paranoia. Such paranoia exists; so does Russian enmity. If GRU involvement is more conclusively proved, it will demand a strong U.S. response.
◼ After the implementation of Scotland's new hate-crime law, which criminalizes conduct and language perceived to be insulting to protected identity groups, J. K. Rowling challenged the Scottish police to arrest her. On April Fools' Day, when the law went into effect, Rowling posted a series of tweets describing various trans-identifying men as men and accusing Scottish lawmakers of placing a "higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of females" than on "the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls." Many complaints were then filed against Rowling, but the police declined to prosecute, stating that her comments were "not assessed to be criminal." Really? The law appears to make any comment perceived as offensive to those who identify as transgender a potential crime punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment. The trans activists who reported Rowling were certainly under that impression, as are any citizens still fearful of expressing themselves freely. The law relies on subjective and arbitrary judgments. No specific victim is required. Third-party reporting is encouraged. The law prohibits "stirring up hatred" against some characteristics (transgenderism) while neglecting others (sex). "I trust that all women—irrespective of profile or financial means — will be treated equally under the law," Rowling wrote, pointedly. We won't hold our breath.
◼ "We are culturally a Christian country," Richard Dawkins said last week in an interview with the British media company LBC. "I call myself a cultural Christian." The Oxford evolutionary biologist, better known as a freelance preacher of atheism, which he propounded in The God Delusion (2006), distinguishes between personal belief and religion as a matrix of cultural and moral values. He feels "at home" with the "Christian ethos." The substitution of "any alternative religion" would be "dreadful." He delivers his warm words for Christianity, "a fundamentally decent religion," in the context of denouncing Islam, whose "doctrines" and "holy books" promote "hostility to women." Dawkins joins the ranks of Jürgen Habermas and Marcello Pera, European thinkers who in dialogue with Pope Benedict XVI helped to cultivate the plot of common ground between secularism and religion in the West. They also serve who only stand outside houses of worship and lightly bless them. Professor Dawkins, the doors are open.
◼ Lou Conter, the last survivor of the Japanese attack on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, is dead at 102. A 20-year-old quartermaster during the surprise assault—it claimed 1,177 lives aboard the Arizona—Conter would, in the following years, recall for his listeners the catastrophic explosion that broke the ship's spine, rending the vessel in two and leading the harbor waters to consume the ship in only a few minutes. Amid the chaos, he helped rescue survivors from the flaming waters. Following Pearl Harbor, Conter became a Navy aviator, commanding a PBY patrol bomber. After his plane crashed near New Guinea, Conter instructed his crew to remain calm and fend off sharks as they swam to safety. Conter took part again in the next conflict, the Korean War, and pioneered the Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape training program, which protects sailors, airmen, Marines, and soldiers to this day. In his personal life, Conter enjoyed a loving marriage of 45 years with his wife, Val, who preceded him in death (2016). He passed away at his home in Grass Valley, Calif., leaving behind a remarkable legacy and a grateful nation. Fair winds and following seas, Mr. Conter. |
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