Conservative: Clinton-Putin Link Is the Real Bombshell
That Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee both paid for research used in the discredited Trump-Russia dossier is “bombshell” news, asserts The Washington Post’s Marc Thiessen. But even “more shocking” is that the firm the campaign hired, Fusion GPS, has been accused in sworn congressional testimony of launching a smear campaign against a Russian whistleblower tortured and killed after uncovering a massive tax theft by individuals close to Vladimir Putin. Yet no one is asking the obvious question: “Why was Hillary Clinton using an opposition research company with Putin-linked clients to dig up dirt on Donald Trump?” Fact is, “there is now more public evidence about Clinton’s collusion with Russia than there is about any such collusion by Trump.”
From the left: Academia Has a ‘Harvey Problem’
There’s “an open secret” on college campuses, contends Caroline Fredrickson at The Atlantic: “Women face sexual harassment on a regular basis” by faculty members with “little history of resulting in punishment.” A 2015 survey found that “roughly one in 10 female graduate students states that she has been sexually harassed by a faculty member at her university.” And, more often than not, it involves “physical, not verbal, harassment” — with more than half of the cases involving “serial harassers.” Academia, she says, “is particularly fertile territory for those who want to leverage their power to gain sexual favors or inflict sexual violence on vulnerable individuals.” And many keep silent because “when the relationship with a mentor goes wrong, when a parent figure becomes a predator,” the career of a doctoral student or an adjunct “can go up in flames.”
Foreign desk: Why Saudi Arabia Is Going Nuclear
Saudi Arabia announced Monday that it will “commence uranium extraction efforts towards nuclear ‘self-sufficiency,’ ” which Tom Rogan at the Washington Examiner says is due primarily to Iran’s nuclear program. It follows other recent actions indicating Riyadh’s “increasingly aggressive strategy toward Iran.” And it also suggests that Saudi Arabia is looking to ensure “its long-term energy security” by “diversifying its energy sector away from oil.” But while the Saudis “are unlikely to weaponize their nuclear program unless and until they view Iran as committed to that same course,” they’re convinced that Pakistan “would, on request, transfer nuclear weapons technology to Riyadh.” That gives Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “confidence that he has time on his side to first develop a purely peaceful nuclear program.”
Urban wonk: Bill de Blasio’s Unsticky Web
Self-described political fixer Jona Rechnitz’s testimony about giving money to the mayor of New York in return for political favors is “a startling allegation, even in the context of the cloud of corruption that has hung over the de Blasio administration,” contends Bob McManus at City Journal. The mayor is right that Rechnitz, testifying in return for sentencing leniency, “is a dubious character,” but “that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s lying.” Still, if federal prosecutors trust him enough to be the star witness against Norman Seabrook, why wasn’t his testimony “credible enough to anchor a case against Team de Blasio?” Fact is, Bill de Blasio “is a shoo-in for reelection next week, thanks in large measure to a pair of remarkably un-rigorous prosecutors” — former US Attorney Preet Bharara (who oversaw most of the federal probe), and Manhattan DA Cy Vance — “who had the tools to do better.”
Culture critic: Why I’ll Miss Lord & Taylor
Acculturated’s Naomi Schaefer Riley is upset at news that Lord & Taylor is closing its flagship store on Fifth Avenue, “with its grand entrance and beautiful archways.” Not only is it a designated city landmark, it’s also a family one: “There is a reason that Lord & Taylor can outfit four generations of my family and it’s not because we all have the same taste in clothes. It’s because the store caters to women who want to dress attractively and appropriately and for a reasonable price.” Sadly, this is yet another step “in the long decline of brick and mortar retail.” How to compete with the ease of a computer screen? “Maybe if they bring back the pipe organ.”
— Compiled by Eric Fettmann