Biden’s senseless pier plan, the entitlement time bomb: commentary

Mideast beat: Biden’s Senseless Pier Plan

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin admits Hamas or others could attack US troops running the pier being built for Gaza, but says that’s not a breach of President Biden’s vow not to put US boots on the ground there, notes National Review’s Jim Geraghty. Yet the pier itself will only provide a small amount of aid. Plus, 71% of Palestinians back Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel; “three times as many” (20%) think the war is America’s fault rather than Hamas’ (7%). “Why are we putting U.S. men and women in uniform in harm’s way to help people who hate us and love Hamas?” Why not at least get Hamas to agree not to shoot at us or maybe “release the five American hostages” it’s been holding?

Libertarian: The Entitlement Time Bomb

Both President Biden and ex-prez Donald Trump “have pledged to block potential changes to Social Security,” even though “Social Security is expected to hit insolvency in 2035, while the portion of Medicare that pays for hospital visits and other medical care will be insolvent by 2036,” warns Reason’s Eric Boehm. “Workers should be allowed to opt out of Social Security as part of any future changes.” And “Medicare’s insolvency . . . ought to be addressed first by trying to reduce the cost of health care.” “Even if the two programs weren’t expected to run out of cash in the mid-2030s, putting them on a more stable fiscal trajectory would be important for long-term economic growth. Refusing to fix the spending side of the equation likely ensures devastating tax increases.”

Pandemic journal: The WHO’s New Power Grab

“The World Health Organization’s proposal for a global ‘pandemic treaty’ has been a political and public-relations disaster,” thunders Molly Kingsley at Spiked. The WHO’s controversial 2021 draft treaty would’ve granted it “the power to issue legally binding mandates to member states and their citizens during pandemics,” i.e., “imposing lockdowns, quarantines and mandatory vaccinations.” This version is an “improvement,” but “concerns persist about [its] legally binding nature.” Not to mention “questions as to whether the WHO is fit for the purpose as a global public-health leader,” as the WHO lauded China’s authoritarian response to COVID. Indeed, any “organization as shambolic and opaque as the WHO should not be allowed anywhere near the big decisions we will have to make should another pandemic arrive.”

Campus watch: Columbia’s Moral Failure

“It’s time to begin making sense of the Tentifada,” argues Liel Leibovitz at City Journal, by noting how those “in positions of power and authority acted when the barbarians stormed the gates.” Case in point: Columbia President Minouche Shafik failed to defend “academic freedom, free speech, unfettered inquiry.” But “the real grim news” is that “you can fire one bumbling president for mishandling a crisis,” yet schools are “stacked with bureaucratic mediocrities all the way down.” Indeed, “if you’re looking for a man of the hour,” look to Mayor Adams, an ex-cop who advocated “zero tolerance” for the violent encampments. “A modest proposal, then, for any parent who wants to raise responsible and morally upright children: forget the poisoned Ivies. Have them join the police instead.”

Campus watch II: Speaker Slams College Leaders

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s speech Tuesday at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum “was a clear and uncompromising sermon on the role the educated classes played in paving the road to the Holocaust,” cheers Commentary’s Seth Mandel. His remarks “could not have been more fitting for the moment.” Some highlights: “We remember what happened then, and today, we are witnessing American universities quickly become hostile places for Jewish students and faculty.” And: “Faculty who once produced cutting-edge research are linking arms with pro-Hamas protestors calling for a ‘global intifada.’ ” College leaders “are barring Jewish faculty and choosing not to protect their Jewish students,” who “are physically threatened” while “peers hold posters repeating the Nazi propaganda and the program: the final solution.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board