From the right: ‘Impossible’ Dem Tea Party Is Here
The Democratic civil war is under way, with the first shots already fired, declares Commentary’s Noah Rothman. First, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threatened entrenched Democratic incumbents with primaries. Then the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it would “withhold support for firms that work” with the AOC crowd. So she responded by telling her Twitter followers to withhold their cash from the DCCC. Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is nearing “open warfare” with “the resurgent progressives she tried to appease.” All this after pundits repeatedly assured us that the Democratic Party was “simply too organizationally competent, pragmatic and adaptable,” making it “all but immune to the Tea Party contagion” that enveloped the GOP a decade ago. So much for Barack Obama’s warning to Democrats not to “cannibalize our own.”
Urban wonk: How Will the MTA Spend Its Newfound Cash?
Thanks to the new state budget, the MTA is getting a $20 billion infusion for major infrastructure investments over the next five years. But as Nicole Gelinas notes at City & State, that’s hardly enough — “especially if the MTA doesn’t spend the money wisely.” And lawmakers rushed through the funding “without carefully examining how the authority spends its money — and why projects so often exceed their budgets and schedules.” Fact is, Albany is “nowhere near taking action to enable the MTA to bring its construction spending closer to that of other leading global cities.” That includes grappling with “prevailing wage laws that govern public sector projects — laws that mean when contractors are months or years late with projects, extra time spent by workers is not just money, but a lot of money.” So until that happens, “we’re stuck with hoping the MTA can reform itself.”
Foreign desk: Divisive Netanyahu Refused To Lose
In the end, says the Times of Israel’s David Horovitz, “the combined might of three former Israeli army chiefs proved no match for the political will of Benjamin Netanyahu.” The prime minister “commandeered the airwaves, took over the vegetable markets, monopolized social media and even called potential voters out of the sea” on Election Day. Simply put, Netanyahu “refused to be beaten.” Yes, he had lots of help from President Trump, and “he didn’t always play fair.” But he also benefited from the gradual turn to the right by an Israel “reminded intermittently by Hezbollah’s tunnels, rockets and threats, and by Hamas rocket attacks, of the dangers of relinquishing adjacent territory.”
History watch: A Greatest Generation Hero Is Gone
Bob Collins of Minnesota Public Radio pays tribute to Lt. Col. (Ret.) Richard Cole, last surviving member of the Doolittle Raiders, who died Monday at 103. With him goes “the last first-person account” of the squad of 80 pilots who staged a daring air assault on Japan just five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In terms of actual damage inflicted, the raid was “largely ineffective, but the morale boost to a beleaguered nation was incalculable.” Cole wasn’t just any crew member — he was mission leader Gen. James Doolittle’s co-pilot. It was considered a suicide mission, because the B-25s couldn’t carry enough fuel to get back, so Cole was among those who had to bail out. His best memory of the raid: “My parachute opening.”
Conservative: Cuba Baseball Deal Was Worth Keeping
It’s going to get “a lot harder for Cuban baseball players to compete in the US,” reports Madeline Fry at the Washington Examiner. That’s because the Trump administration has revoked an Obama-era deal that allowed Cuban players to play Major League ball without having to first defect. The move is meant to play hardball with Havana over its continuing support for Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, but Fry calls it “a pointless maneuver.” Quite frankly, “if the Trump administration wants to pressure Havana, breaking the MLB-Cuban Baseball Federation deal will not move the needle.” Show support for interim Venezuelan President Juan Guaidó by sanctioning Cuba, but “there’s no reason to keep good players from competing in America’s pastime.”
— Compiled by Eric Fettmann