Iran beat: We’re Already at War
“The war that began on October 7 when Hamas invaded Israel” is one front of a wider war that pits “Iran and its proxies against America” and has “already cost American lives,” argues Eli Lake at The Free Press. Two Navy SEALS were lost in an anti-Houthi mission; US personnel have suffered traumatic injuries from Iran-backed rocket attacks. And “603 American service members” were killed by Iran during the Iraq war. Yet even as “American and British war ships in the Red Sea have been barraging Houthi positions in Yemen this month,” the Biden White House “has been cautious about applying economic pressure” likely because senior staff wants to try and keep an Iran deal alive. “It’s almost like there are two policies for the Biden administration.”
Democrat: The Left’s Foolish Biden Blame
“On the left, the habit of blaming America first dies hard,” as progressives accuse “President Biden of going back on his promise to keep America out of ‘forever wars’ in the Middle East” because of the US-led “airstrikes to suppress Houthi attacks on international shipping,” fumes Will Marshall at The Hill. “Today’s Middle East landscape is littered with Iran-backed jihadist groups who see themselves as waging a Holy War to erase Israel from the map. They know they can’t do that without driving the United States from the region,” while Israel’s “enemies loathe America too, and they are testing our resolve and stamina to stand by our beleaguered friend and ally, despite its present government’s grievous shortcomings. Unlike his critics, President Biden is passing that test.”
Conservative: Media Better Dead Than Red?
With journalism in a “precarious position” these days, you’d “think the story of a billionaire taking over the reins of a foundering newspaper would be looked at as a positive step,” but “there have been no shortage of gripes at the fact that” new Baltimore Sun owner David D. Smith is “a conservative,” laments Brad Slager at Townhall. “It is almost regarded as the better option for a paper to go under and reporters lose work, rather than to have a right-leaning owner keeping the lights on and the paychecks flowing. There’s no mystery why “the news complex in this nation” is dissolving. It prefers “insolvency” to “diversity of thought.”
Culture critic: The Futility of Cosmetic Surgery
For Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Kylie Jenner and other “young women in the entertainment industry, plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures have become the norm rather than the exception,” steams The Spectator’s Amber Duke. Yet botox “limits the use of facial muscles, which play a huge role in how we convey emotion to others.” Communication between “mother and baby can especially be negatively impacted by stiff facial muscles.” A child may lose out emotionally “because of our own selfish desire to put off aging.” “The proliferation of cosmetic procedures raises a lot of questions about how our society views aging and mortality,” as “aging and our inevitable death become something to fear rather than accept and embrace.” “Fighting against nature is ultimately a futile exercise.”
Campaign watch: Real Cause of Trump Chaos
Donald Trump’s opponents cast him “as a mythical beast” who “unleashes himself upon an innocent people,” notes RealClearPolitics’ J. Peder Zane. Yet his “behavior” is mainly a reaction to the “vicious” attacks they’ve leveled against him” — painting him as a “Russian agent,” a “racist” and a “nincompoop.” They “helped swing the 2020 election” by dismissing Hunter Biden’s “shady” business dealings as Russian disinformation. “Partisan prosecutors” brought 91 felony indictments against him while others work to keep him off ballots. “No one has more of a right to express grievance.” “I understand why many Americans recoil at the prospect of four more years of tumult,” but “who caused the problems?” If they defeat Trump, “they will only be rewarding the real cause of the chaos.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
This story originally appeared on NYPost
