1 week Ago By Post Editorial Board
Security beat: Biden’s Provocative Weakness In response to the murder of American Hersh Goldberg-Polin by Hamas, President Biden sent “a letter of condolence” to his parents, scoffs HR McMaster at The Free Press — “as strong an example as any of why rivals, adversaries, and enemies perceive Washington as weak, feckless, and unwilling to respond to grave and increasing threats.” “The theocratic dictatorship in Iran” has welcomed “Biden administration attempts to resurrect the Obama policy of conciliation” while US “redlines” on Russia “seem to have been interpreted by Putin as a green light for everything else, including the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.” A strong contrast with his predecessor: “No matter what they thought of Trump, America’s allies and our enemies did not view the 45th president as weak.
” From the right: People Flee High-Tax States “More bad news for California, Illinois and New York,” warn The Wall Street Journal’s editors of a new report showing “that their most upwardly mobile millennials are fleeing for lower-tax states.” This “flight of the young and newly affluent promises to compound the states’ budget and economic problems.” The biggest gainers “Florida and Texas, which have no income tax.
” Indeed, the report found that “half of states attracting the most young and rich households don’t charge state income tax.” The editors’ takeaway: The middle class in high-tax states “will inevitably have to pay higher taxes to support the state’s political promises to public unions. The Blue State governance model keeps giving taxpayers the blues, which is why more of the young and mobile want out.
” Mideast watch: US Navy Can’t Stop the Houthis As the “Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group returned to the U.S.
without dislodging the Iran-backed Houthis,” the “U.S. Navy has suffered its most significant setback,” reports Steve Cohen for The Hill .
Keeping “these sea lanes open has been a key part of the Navy’s raison d’etre.” Yet “ships are still being diverted around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope” thanks to Houthi attacks. The effect “on the global economy is significant,” with “container shipping down 90 percent since December 2023.
” Despite all “the effort, dedication, and skill shown by sailors and air crews, it was too little to get the job done,” as the “Houthis continue to control the Red Sea.” The primary reason? “The Biden administration concluded the cost” of deterring the Houthis “is not worth the political juice.” Conservative: Bernie Gives Away Kam’s Game Sen.
Bernie Sanders on “Meet the Press” Sunday “said the quiet part out loud,” namely that “Kamala Harris’s sudden attempt to shift toward the center is nothing more than a political charade to win votes, not a genuine change of ideology,” fumes PJ Media’s Matt Margolis . The host “asked Sanders directly if Harris was abandoning her progressive ideals,” and “instead of offering a robust defense of her flip-flopping, Sanders tried to rationalize it. ‘No.
I don’t think she’s abandoning her ideals. I think she’s trying to be pragmatic and doing what she thinks is right in order to win the election.’ ” It’s plain: “This is Sanders admitting that Harris is scamming the voters, not standing on principle.
” Foreign desk: Red Lines for Our Allies? President Biden has restricted Ukraine from targeting Russian sites with US weapons, creating “red lines” that put our ally “at a disadvantage” in that war, rails Commentary’s Seth Mandel . Those lines remain even as Ukraine hopes “to survive long enough to get to end-stage negotiations,” where its recent foray in Kursk can improve its hand. Similarly, “the Biden administration delayed [Israeli military] operations in Rafah,” where six hostages were recently executed.
So Israel had to “jump through hoops” to “get around the president’s red lines” there. Yet “Hamas has no red lines. Russia has no red lines.
Only our democratic allies have red lines, under Biden and Kamala Harris. And we wonder why terrorism and authoritarianism are on the march.” — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board.
