Send Ukraine tanks, endless, bipartisan political grift and other commentary

Struggle watch: Ship Ukraine Tanks

“Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket Help (HIMARS) . . . alone is not going to win the warfare” for Ukraine, warns Michael O’Hanlon at The Hill, as “Russian forces are diversifying and hardening their positions as a counter to the lethal strikes.” One of the best assist now could be 1) “extra air and missile protection functionality in order that not solely Kyiv however different secure or liberated cities could be protected extra successfully from Russian missile and air assaults” and a pair of) “extra tanks and related help automobiles to enrich its present infantry and artillery strengths and create a extra credible counteroffensive functionality.” Ukraine has about 300 tanks now; the implied want is for “a grand whole of 500 tanks or thereabouts.”

Labor beat: NY’s Public-Union Corruption Woes

The takeover of one in every of NYC’s largest public-sector unions by its nationwide mother or father, notes the Empire Heart’s Ken Girardin, is “the most recent instance of misconduct” enabled by New York’s labor legal guidelines. A draft audit of AFSCME Native 1549’s funds revealed “questionable funds to consultants and alleged misuse of the union’s bank card.” New York’s seen “no less than 40 different related incidents since 2009 . . . involving the theft or misuse of union funds.” Computerized dues-deduction “all however invitations dangerous conduct as a result of authorities companies are required to deduct and remit a whole bunch of tens of millions of dollars in dues yearly” to unions with zero accountability. “Making it arduous for public staff to withhold their dues limits the utility of what needs to be their greatest software for demanding union accountability.”

Neocon: Inconvenient Truths on ‘Lengthy COVID’

“What little we learn about” lengthy COVID “shouldn’t frighten most of the people,” explains Commentary’s Noah Rothman. The signs can embrace every thing from fatigue, problem respiratory and protracted cough to muscle/joint/chest ache or reminiscence points in addition to headache, intermittent fever, coronary heart palpitations and even rash/blisters/welts. However a JAMA Psychology paper flags a key danger issue: “preexisting psychological misery.” Rothman elaborates: “Individuals who struggled with . . . anxiousness, melancholy, loneliness, dysmorphia, and so forth” are “as a lot as 50 % extra prone to expertise long-term Covid-related problems.” That doesn’t imply the syndrome’s not actual, however: “There may be little proof to counsel ‘lengthy Covid’ is a completely epidemiological phenomenon and various proof on the contrary.”

The idea of "long COVID" shouldn't frighten the general public.
The concept of “lengthy COVID” shouldn’t frighten most of the people.
AP Photograph/Andy Wong

Libertarian: Infinite, Bipartisan Political Grift

“Trump’s critics are completely proper to see the ex-president’s grift,” Motive’s Matt Welch factors out. “However they fail to acknowledge” its universality in “the American political system . . . on the subject of individuals keen to fork over cash and affection to apparent blowhards” — like New York AG Tish James, Steve Bannon, the Black Lives Matter International Community Basis or the Lincoln Challenge — “so long as the recipients have the fitting enemies.” “Political hucksters” throughout the spectrum exploit “the willingness of political tribalists to imagine that any alleged misconduct on their very own aspect is simply proof of additional malfeasance from The Man,” and “the marketplace for ideological pocket-stuffing exists all over the place.” Sure, “the battle for our democracy is simply too vital to remain on the sidelines, associates. We'd like your donations right now.”

Eye on financial system: Biden’s Perilous Blindness

Regardless of “ominous” indicators, observes Nationwide Overview’s Jim Geraghty, “Biden intends to tout his financial file because the midterm elections strategy.” Huh? “Companies don’t know what to anticipate within the coming months, besides larger prices to warmth their amenities this winter. The inventory markets are jittery. Ultimately, these rising rates of interest will scale back buyer demand — which ought to scale back inflation, however may also decrease gross sales, income, and finally, jobs.” However “in some individuals’s minds, the financial system can’t be sputtering, as a result of the man they like is within the White Home, and the social gathering they like controls Congress.” And White Home flack Karine Jean-Pierre referred to as “two consecutive quarters of declining GDP” “regular and steady development” — which means “the White Home message is, ‘You’ve by no means had it so good.’ ”

— Compiled by The Publish Editorial Board

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