Conservative: Dems’ Self-Inflicted Protest Pain
“These anti-Israel protests across the country are . . . self-inflicted wounds for Democrats, because they are alienating far more people than they’re attracting,” warns Derek Hunter at The Hill. “Democrats created this mob . . . by encouraging previous riots and unrest” and “refused to condemn” the thugs when they “took over parts of various campuses.” That’s even though “they chanted racist, anti-Semitic and anti-American mantras” and their “violent rhetoric morphed into physical violence.” “Only now, when it’s showing up in polling, where four in five Americans support Israel over Hamas, are they beginning to call for order to be restored.” “A progressive activist mob is very easy to create,” but “nearly impossible to control. Past mobs served purposes that were effective electorally to Democrats. This one does not.”
Border watch: Joe’s Illegal-Migrant Express
“During an eight-month period from January through August 2023, roughly 200,000 migrants flew into the U.S. via” a “controversial parole program for four nationalities,” report Fox News’ Bill Melugin & Adam Shaw — “with the vast majority entering the U.S. via airports in Florida.” The data, obtained from Homeland Security via a House subpoena, also reveal that as of October “there were about 1.6 million applicants waiting for DHS approval to fly to the U.S. via the parole program.” Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green “argues that the program exceeds parole powers put in place by Congress,” a claim “echoed in a lawsuit by multiple states, who have sued to block the program.”
Libertarian: Peaceful Protests Need Free Speech
Free speech requires making “distinctions between acceptable forms of expression and those that violate the rights of others,” argues Reason’s J.D. Tuccille. “It’s important to have clear, firm principles applied equally to all points of view” so that administrators don’t need to improvise amid campus protests. Notably, “Columbia has done a poor job of defining what is and isn’t acceptable.” “The key is setting expectations ahead of time.”
Vanderbilt’s chancellor told NPR that “universities will define the time, manner and way in which it’s done.” Indeed, Vanderbilt students who injured a security guard and forced themselves into a building in March got ejected “within a day,” as “three were expelled” and “others received lesser discipline.” Keeping the line clear is vital “if institutions are to simultaneously preserve speech rights while forestalling chaos.”
Seinfeld: The Woke War on Humor
Jerry Seinfeld laments in a New Yorker interview how political correctness has dulled comedy: “It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day” and expect to see “some funny stuff [to] watch on TV,” such as “M.A.S.H.” and “Cheers.” No more, thanks to “the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.” Many jokes from his iconic show might not get greenlit today, like one where “Kramer decides to start a business of having homeless people pull rickshaws because, as he says, ‘They’re outside anyway.’ ” Today, “we wouldn’t do that joke.” But a market remains for humor that pushes the envelope: “Standup comics” are “stepping over the line” because “we are not policed by anyone.”
Elex watch: Left Wants Noncitizens Voting
“A small cohort of liberal activists is intent on making noncitizen voting a reality” despite a majority of Americans believing only citizens should decide US elections, charges Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger at The Wall Street Journal. “Progressives have pushed for such measures” in several states, while opposing “common-sense citizenship checks during registration” — and also pretending “noncitizen voting isn’t a pertinent issue.” Don’t “fall for the charade.” Ensuring only US citizens vote is a “straightforward requirement for maintaining election security and public trust.” Noncitizen voting may be rare, but “the more certainty we can provide to the public that their votes won’t be canceled by an illegal vote from a noncitizen, the less doubt others can cast on our elections.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board